


New Beginnings

by dearest_sparksandstars



Series: These Are Your Next Steps [2]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ancient Temples, Blurred Lines between good and bad, Bogano, F/M, Force Ghosts, Force Visions, Haircuts, Jedi Training, Relies on Clone Wars Rebels and Fallen Order oops, Rey Needs A Hug, Rey is tired, Rey’s fate is a lot more complicated than it seems, Short Hair, Sleep Deprivation, So much angst, Star Wars Rebels references, Star charts, The Vault on Bogano, Yavin IV, i don’t know how to tag, this is just angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22028569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearest_sparksandstars/pseuds/dearest_sparksandstars
Summary: Rey begins a journey to find a location for her Jedi training academy alongside her apprentice, Myna.She explores her relationship with Poe, approaches Finn about his Force Sensitivity, and convenes with the lesser-known Jedi of the past.Though, not everything is what it seems.
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Finn, Poe Dameron & Rey, Poe Dameron/Rey, Rey & Finn
Series: These Are Your Next Steps [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1585645
Comments: 10
Kudos: 40





	1. Bogano

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is mainly exposition and this won’t be a Damerey centered fic but it’s there. Idk how long this one is gonna be but here we go :)

Rey was nodding off as she scrolled through an old record of the Empire, specifically file that had detailed the excavation and destruction of ancient Jedi sites. 

It had been no problem for Myna to crack the decades old encryption that had still remained. She was in in almost five seconds flat, and Rey was astounded at the secondary talent, having stared at the screen for a few moments in awe. 

Her head slipped off her hand, and she blinked back up, eyes wide. 

“How’s it going?” Poe called from the other side of the room, just as drowsy as she felt. The humidity of Yavin IV didn’t help much either.

She shook her head, and peered at the screen, straightening as she read the report, written by what appeared to be an Imperial Inquisitor. 

“Poe, come look at this!” She called, and he shot to his feet, and leaned over her shoulder. In the dim light, the blue of the holo-screen illuminated his features handsomely, and she coyly smiled as she pointed at the location. 

“Bogano?” He says, brow furrowed, crossing his arms. She peered at the blurry picture the landscape was flat and green, marshy and rocky, and atop a hill in the distance, a tall building broke the skyline, appearing to be thousands of years old.

She begins reading slowly.

“Home to an ancient Zeffo Vault, The second sister encountered the Jedi survivor, Cal Kestis,” the name is unfamiliar in her own voice, but a feeling of connection washes over her. “The planet holds a strong connection to the force, and was previously a place of study to Eno Cordova [deceased].”

“What are… Zeffo?” Poe says, and Rey bites her lip, trying to recall why it sounded familiar. 

“Kriff,” she mutters as it hits her. “Where’s my datapad?”

He looks around briskly, and Myna walks in, peering between the two of them curiously. 

“I thought you went to bed?” Rey asked, but quickly noticing the device in her hands, she stands. 

“I was studying,” Myna replies, nervously surveying what Rey guessed was her wild appearance. “I had a question, for you but… am I interrupting something?”

“No, your timing is impeccable!” She cries, and steps closer. “Can I borrow this?” She gestures to the data pad that was open to the ancient Jedi texts from Ach-To.

“Uh...sure,” she hands it over, and Myna cast a furtive glance to Poe who looks just as worried by her enthusiasm. 

She flips through the pages, and stops for a moment before setting it beside the screen.

“I knew that name sounded familiar,” she whispered under her breath. “Master Howell detailed in his notes that the Zeffo Sages, some of the first force users, had some connection to the planet of Bogano, located in the Unknown Regions. It is unknown what the vault they built there holds, but one must pass a test in order to enter.”

“What kind of test?” Myna asks, snatching back the tablet, and reading it for herself. She’d taken quickly to the new language after a time spent agonizing over the texts with C-3PO.

Then again, Rey had too, but now, she had the help of the Jedi of the past to guide her. 

Myna, at some point in the year and a half she had spent training her, had become more of a sister than a student. It might have been due in part to the fact that they spent so much time side by side, and that she knew more about her personal life than most of her friends did. Their close age helped that as well. 

Rey was how proud of how far her friend had come in the short time they’d known each other, and though they didn’t have much in common, she was grateful for another addition to her family. 

“It doesn’t specify,” she says, but her eyes light up. “There’s some coordinates here!”

“Good,” Rey feels a strong resolve wash over her. “We’ll go in the morning.”

“Uh, wow,” Poe interrupts finally. “That was a lot, but we’re not up against a clock right? I think the Jedi Master needs a rest first.”

They weren’t up against the clock, not anymore, but she felt like she could get more done if she did it right away. It hadn’t initially crossed her mind, but Rey smiled patiently, not willing to engage in an argument that they often had. It usually felt like she was talking to a wall. She could run on little amounts of sleep if she wanted to.

“Fine,” she groaned. 

After a rinse in the fresher, she stepped into the bedroom, where Poe was already under the covers. 

Smiling softly, she pulls on one of his old shirts before returning to the counter of the fresher. Looking into the mirror, she studies the way her curls, damp loose, hung long below her elbows. It was as much of a reminder of her past as anything was, and as she ran her fingers through it, it felt unfamiliar. 

Poe’s razor taunted her from the counter. She bit at her nails nervously, considering the choice that seemed most clear to her in that moment. Tomorrow’s dawn presented yet another new beginning. Why not one more?

Taking it in her hand, she turned the switch on, and she swore under her breath as the first lock of hair hit the counter. 

Soon enough, she was finished. She shut of the shaver, and set it on the counter. Promise filled her chest as she smiled at the new look. She ran a hand through what was left of her hair; a long bit on top, parted far to one side, and an undercut. 

Pleased, she quickly cleaned up after herself, and re-entered the room. 

She slid under the covers beside Poe, and he rolled over with a sigh, wrapping his arms around her. His hands came to her head, and his eyes shot open as he searched for her curls. 

“Sunshine?” He whispered groggily, his brows furrowed and frowning. She giggled, and cupped his cheek. “Is everything okay?”

“More than,” she sighs, moving closer, and placing her lips against his gently, before tucking her face into his neck.

He whimpered slightly, like he was mourning the loss of a loved one. 

“Oh shut up,” she growled playfully as she jabbed him on his bare side. 

He let out a faint _“ouch!”_ as he laughed and kissed her forehead before settling back in for bed. 

“Love you,” he sighed, and before she could respond to the new phrase, his breathing had steadied and he was deeply asleep. 

“I love you too, you difficult man,” she whispered back, a wistful smile pulling at her lips, knowing full well he didn’t hear.


	2. Lead not to Temptation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She sighs heavily. “Finn, light of my life, dearest friend, when are you going to open your eyes? It’s been over three years, and how many times have you said that?”
> 
> Or
> 
> Finn has his reservations, and so does Rey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a little tougher for me to write. It felt like I was being a little repetitive in the language I was using, but it gets there, even if the characters have slight ooc moments yikes

The _Falcon_ waits for them in the light of morning, cleaner than Rey had seen it in a long time. Chewie had taken it to a repair yard a few systems away after the Life Day celebration. He’d stopped by Cloud City to drop off Jannah, but Finn had returned with him, and was waiting by the ramp when they stepped out into the sun. 

“Woah,” he whistled, looking Rey up and down: her fresh cut and her newly cleaned Jedi robes. “You look different.”

“It’s a good different,” Poe adds, kissing her cheek before going up the ramp to put his bag down. He ruffled her hair as she shoved him away. 

“Where are you guys headed?” Finn asked, eyes flicking up to where Myna was holding a pair of travel cups of caf, yawning as she spoke to Kes who handed her a bag. He placed a hand on her shoulder before turning to wave at them as they went. 

“We’re going to scout a location,” Rey smiles, giddiness filling her up. 

Finn’s face lights up, but there’s a wave of uncertainty rushing off him. 

“Do you want to… come with us?” She asks hopefully, taking both of his hands in hers, eyes bright. 

“I’m not sure I’m ready yet.”

Her eyes narrowed as she pursed her lips. 

“Finn, do you really want me to give you that lecture right now? Because I will.”

“What?” He stuttered, a small flash of nerves in his eyes.

She sighs heavily. “Finn, light of my life, dearest friend, when are you going to open your eyes? It’s been over three years, and how many times have you said that?”

“I–”

“If you don’t stop denying that you have the potential,” she cuts him off pointedly, jabbing a finger into his chest. “You’ll never take that chance.”

She crosses her arms, staring at him expectantly. 

“Uh-oh, what’d you do? I haven’t seen that face since I took her ship light speed skipping.”

Finn whirls you look at Poe, who joins them, chuckling, but Rey just whaps Poe over the backside of his head. He rubs it, looking confused. 

He shakes his head as he goes to embrace Kes, who blows a kiss to her as she goes up the ramp. She waves sweetly, something unfamiliar but warm stirring inside her. 

She stops in the lounge, placing her rucksack on the bench, and sliding into the bench. Finn follows Poe into the cockpit, as she glares at him for doing something she couldn’t. 

Chewie is close behind. He placed a fitted hand on her shoulder, and she smiled, covering it with her own. He growls softly, and she lifts her eyes to meet his.

“I’m okay,” she says, letting him go. “I’ll be a moment, don’t let Poe cause any trouble.”

He huffed a laugh, and moved on, leaving her a moment to contemplate. 

No matter how excited she felt, she couldn’t deny the underlying nerves that the paths unfolding were beginning to show. Maybe it was Finn’s behavior about her burning question that brought it out, but she hadn’t been able to wipe the smile off her face before, and now she felt the doubt come in.

Sure, she’d come a long way. She used to be afraid that she didn’t even know herself, but now she was certain she did. But, like with most things, there hadn’t been a night or day since she took on Myna as an apprentice that she hadn’t been terrified she was going to kriff it all up. 

So far, nothing had come to pass, and after all she’d been through, Rey admitted to herself she felt on edge. It was too peaceful at moments. A voice in her head constantly told her that something was going to go wrong, that this wasn’t her path. She could never pinpoint it.

But she couldn’t listen to that voice, she wouldn’t. It was her temptation these days, when she lie awake and alone in the middle of the night, left to the prison of her own thoughts. This is when she most felt like she was about to drown under the responsibility, in the power she held, power that came from a dark place. 

“You’re thinking too much,” Myna’s voice said as she joined her in the lounge, and Rey’s eyes snapped open, and reality set back in.

No, that darkness was gone. The sith were gone. She’d fulfilled a prophecy that not even the one called the Chosen One could, but then again she hadn’t done it alone.

She wasn’t alone.

“Stop it,” Myna sets a mug of Caf in front of her and Rey sighs. “I could feel the jumble of it all the way out there.”

She doesn’t respond, taking the mug in her hands, heat radiating off it. 

“Master Skywalker?” Myna asks, and Rey startled a bit. Myna hadn’t called her that in a long time. The worry in her eyes was real. Breathing in shakily, she speaks finally. 

“We should get going,” she rasps, surprised by the dryness of her throat. “We’ll talk later, I promise.”

Steadying herself, she rises to her feet, resolve filling her up with the promise of adventure and time spent with the people that she loves. 

Stepping into the cockpit, Rey turns to the nav computer, and begins making the calculations without a second thought.

She avoids Myna’s gaze as she pokes Poe out of the pilot seat. Flipping switches, she guides the ship into the atmosphere with a half smile that’s not all there, and allows Chewie to push them into hyperspace.

It’s mindless, and she takes note of the look on Finn’s face as he studies her busy form. His mind nudges at hers, but she pushed it away, shaking her head at him.

She gives Finn and Poe a nod as she retreats to the Captain’s quarters. 

She stops just outside the hallway, out of sight, and can hear them whispering.

“I’m sure she’s excited about this,” Myna said, to no one in particular, speaking to the cockpit. She leans against the wall. “But something’s wrong. She seems uneasy. There’s a lot she’s not telling us.”

Chewie growls in agreement, and Rey grips her shoulders. 

“She’ll be okay,” Finn responds, his voice barely audible. “She always is.”

Taking a slow breath she enters the quarters, and sits cross-legged on the bed. Closing her eyes, she branches out through the force, her connections feeling distant. 

A presence settles before her, and she groans. 

“I know what you’re going to say.”

Her eyes slip open, and Ben is leaning on the doorframe into the closet, smirking.

“Asshole,” she mutters, and he laughs. 

“I haven’t said anything yet!” He chuckles, still wearing the smile that, after so many years, she hasn’t gotten used to. Taking a deep breath, she gestures for him to go on. “You feel the pull again.”

“It’s hard not to,” she whispers, shutting her eyes, and slowing her breathing again. “But even with the sith gone, we’re still being tested. The dark side still exists.”

“It’s okay. It’s not like you could mess it up as bad as I did,” he runs a hand through his hair. Shame lingers over his other-worldly features. “You were always too perfect for that.”

“We’ve talked about this,” she urged, sternness taking over her tone. 

“Never mind then, it’s not about me.

“That place,” Ben says, taking a seat beside her. “It has a rich past. You all will be tested. But that is the big test, persisting, fighting the pull. I’ve seen you do it for years. No reason you can’t do it again.”

“I know, and I’m ready. Nothing I haven’t faced before, but…”

“But?”

“Are they?”

“Sure they are,” he says, smiling, his hand covers her, and it feels solid and warm, a comfort. “Have you seen the way Dameron looks at you? I’ve known him since we were kids, and I can tell he’d follow you to the darkest parts of the galaxy. Finn too.”

“I’m not sure Myna is ready. She never had to fight like we did,” Rey thinks to when they found her, fresh into adulthood. She had lived on a planet that had gone untouched by the First Order. She had a family, and she never knew true hunger. 

It was hard to accept at first, but her connection to the Force was strong, and her heart was true.

_“I want to do good for the people of this galaxy,” Myna had said to her as they stood together under the tree on Yavin IV for the first time. Yavin Prime cast a dazzling orange shadow over them. In a moment of fear, the younger woman lashed out on Rey about her heritage. An old wound stung, and Rey had fought back tears, but she understood. The others thought Rey should cast her away, but she knew better. She knew what power a gesture like that could hold. “Master Skywalker, please, give me another chance! I was angry, I don’t know what I’m doing.”_

_“You were not angry,” she raised her voice. Rey wasn’t sure she was ready for this. In the few months that had passed then, she was struggling to help uphold the new government, and pave a path for herself free from her past. Free from judgement. She saw the fear in Myna’s eyes. She didn’t know how she could undo that look. “You were afraid! Just because I am one way by blood, does not mean that that is my destiny. I’ve written my own story. It’s time you write yours._

_“I could’ve chosen anyone in the entire galaxy to be my apprentice,” she bit, her voice dropping to a low whisper. “But I chose you because I saw promise, and I’m giving you another chance because of it. I never said I would toss you aside. I’ve made a commitment to you now, and we’ll sink or swim together.”_

_Myna looked shocked as Rey turned away._

_She paused, and glanced over her shoulder._

_“First lesson, tomorrow, right here at sunrise.”_

_“Yes, Master!”_

“The time will come, and we shall see,” he smiled, and stood, his hand falling away. She blinks, and he’s gone. 

A steady knock came to the door. Rey waved her hand, and it slid open. 

Myna stood in the doorway, her eyes wide, but a small smile on her lips. Times had certainly changed. One thing was for sure, they were both reckless than they were when they started, that much was evident in her sudden worry-wart behavior.

“Who were you talking to?”

Rey smiles, and looks down. 

“An old friend.

-

Rey let Poe and Chewie put the ship down, standing near the ramp with a bag slung over her shoulder. 

“Do you feel it too?” Myna whispered, coming to stand beside her. 

“Yes,” she whispered, reaching out to the distant presence of another Force-gifted being. “They’re...alone, though.”

There’s a pause between them, and Poe and Finn come to join them. 

“Chewie will stay with the ship,” She said, and straightened a little. Meeting Poe’s gaze, she continued. “This place is special, strong with the force. But that does not mean that we will not be tested. All of us.”

The previous giddiness fills her up again, and she smiles, not sure how it might look to the others. She presses the control that lowers the ramp.

Taking a deep breath, they step out into the sunlight, and Rey is struck by the surrealness of it.

The flat, wet and rocky landscape stretches far as the eye can see, a lighter green grass dusting the soft gray stones. Bits of decades old machinery stick up in places, and a few huts dot the flat ahead of them. In the distance, a golden tower stretches high into the sky, bigger than she could have envisioned from the image. 

Ahead, the silhouette of a petite woman approaches, and Rey is reminded of her uncertainties.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally catching up to the part of the story I envisioned before I started writing. Next time, we meet the mysterious woman, dive in to some Fallen Order and Rebels lore bc that’s some pretty good stuff (if you haven’t played JFO it’s worth paying $60 for it ah so good), and enter the Vault on Bogano. 
> 
> Happy Trails!  
> -Berry


	3. Meditate and Confront

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sun sets on Bogano, and the crew spends a night in the home of the planet’s lone human inhabitant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t proofread this time oh no I apologize for any mishaps ahead of time

As they pushed forward, Rey reached for Poe’s hand, his fingers intertwining with hers, grounding her in the moment, allowing herself to focus her power. 

She leveled her gaze on the woman, who looked as though she might bolt at any sign of trouble, but the Force told Rey otherwise; this was not someone who would run from a fight. 

She wasn’t much older than Poe was, an orange bob framing a face that was decorated with faint markings. She wore a dark blue tunic tucked into beige pants that peaked over her knee-high boots. 

Her hand hung near a holster on her hip. 

“Who are you?” She said, a hint of an accent in her voice. “What is it that you want?”

“We don’t want any trouble,” Finn said, taking a step forward. The woman startled, and drew her blaster, leveling it at them with pursed lips. 

A feeling passed over her, and Rey pushed forward, slipping out of Poe’s nervous grip.

“Wait, please,” she pleaded. “It’s Atlas, isn’t it?”

“How do you know my name?” She turned the blaster on Rey now, and she could feel the weariness Myna displayed behind her. Holding out a hand, she shook her head at her apprentice. 

“I think you know,” Rey sigh, unhooking her saber from her belt, and holding it out to Atlas. Lowering her blaster, grief flashed over her face, and she stepped forward, taking it from her. 

She wobbled a bit, and she closed her eyes. Like she was seeing something beyond them. 

They slipped open, and she looked between the four of them with uncertainty. 

“You’re the last of the Jedi,” she sighed, meeting Rey’s eyes. “You killed Emperor Palpatine.”

“That’s right,” Poe replied, and Rey glances back at him. He looks tired, like he’s seen a ghost. He puts his hands on his hips, and she turns back.

“I think we could use your help.”

“I can show you to the vault, but I can’t help you get in.”

Rey nodded, taking her saber back. She smiled warmly, thankfully, and took a step back. 

Something about Atlas seemed familiar, apart from the nudge of her force sensitivity. She had never met the woman before, she was sure of that much, but there was a connection that lingered. It came from somewhere deep within her, almost out of her reach. The truth was one step away, but she wasn’t sure it was the right step to take just yet. Atlas was still timid, and she wasn’t ready to take a risk that might scare her off. 

“It’s almost sunset,” Atlas said finally, reholstering her blaster. “We’ll have to go in the morning, the Oggdos are less friendly after dark. You’re welcome to stay the night if you can keep out of trouble.” 

She started to turn and they followed diligently, but Finn spoke up first.

“Uh… what are Oggdo’s?”

Atlas turned, smirking slightly, and pointed towards a marshy outcrop a little ways away, across a cavern. 

A huge, scaled beast hopped out, its three yellow eyes glistening primally in the sun as it turned away. 

With that, the group sped up walking and Rey made a mental note of wildlife being a possible con to set up a location here.

-

Rey say cross-legged by a large fan, and peered up at the stars as its blades swung lazily around. She hummed, still surprised about how different the sky looked everywhere they went. In the past four and a half years, she had gone from seeing endless sand to endless an endless amount of new places and experiences, and with her family. One she made for herself, no less. 

Footsteps came slowly towards her, and Rey huffed a sigh as Myna dropped down in front of her, a sheepish smile on her face. 

“You’re late.”

“Atlas made dessert–”

_“Padawan.”_

“Yeah, yeah, okay.”

Laughing gently, Rey straightened her back, and shut her eyes. 

“Close your eyes,” she instructed, sensing that Myna’s attentions were elsewhere. 

Taking a deep breath, Rey settles into her meditation, the sound of blades cutting through air acting as white noise. Something else disturbed her. 

Her eyes slipped open, and caught Myna shifting slightly, as if she were uncomfortable.

“What’s bothering you?”

“What? It’s nothing,” Myna says quickly, but Rey sees straight through her. 

“We’ll never get through this if you don’t tell me.”

“Something about all this feels… off to me. Something dark lingers in this place, and it’s putting my teeth on edge.”

“I feel it too,” Rey sighed. “But it’s not dark, it feels different. Older, ancient, not like the force that flows through you and me.”

“Is it Atlas?”

“It’s possible,” she ran a hand over her face. “We have much to learn from this place, and not just from the vault. I can feel it’s history, and hers too. It all seems to linger here.”

Myna huffed, and hung her head, and Rey stayed silent for a moment. 

No, the moment to meditate was gone, her thoughts were running to quickly now. 

“What was going on with you earlier?” Myna asked suddenly. Rey bit her lip, and leaned in her hand, blinking back up to the stars.

After everything she’d been through, she’d seen and experienced more pain and suffering than most people would in three lifetimes. It felt far too childish to discuss her fears in this way when her mind was so far ahead of her body. At 23, nearly 24, she struggled with the path ahead, even though it seemed so clear a few years, even a few days ago. 

“This place,” Rey whispered. “It’s beautiful, vast, and ancient. Like history is. It’s the history that scares me. Maybe I’m wrong in choosing to rebuild the Jedi Order. After all, both the Old Republic and Luke failed terribly, who’s to say that I won’t mess up just as badly? Who’s to say that I won’t lose you?”

Myna blinked, a little shocked. 

“It’s childish, I know,” Rey whimpered, furrowing her brows as she rubbed at the tension in her temples. 

“What? No, it’s not. Those are real, genuine fears, Rey. It’s okay,” Myna placed a hand on her arm, and Rey looked up at her. “Don’t you think that all those ghosts that you see would come and rage at you if they thought you were doing the right thing?”

Rey laughed hesitantly, but Myna went on, taking animatedly with her hands.

“Well, they haven’t yet. It’s okay to be afraid, you just can’t let that fear control you. Aren’t you the one that always says that ‘fear is the path to the dark side?’”

She paused for a moment, lowering her voice a little bit, shifting to a more serious vibe. 

“I’m scared out of my mind, too, Rey. You picked me of all people. A stupid screw-up who’s had nothing bad ever happen to her. Sometimes I lie awake at night thinking about every possible way that I could fail you, simply because I’m not like you. I’m really, honestly, a nobody, and I’m so scared of messing this up.”

“You don’t really think that, do you? That you’re nobody?” Rey asked suddenly, an all too familiar, self-deprecating phrase popping out. 

“This is not about me,” Myna sighed, not meeting Rey’s gaze. 

“Thank you, Myna,” Rey placed a hand on her knee. “But I’ll have you know that here, you’re apart of a family, even if you’ve got one back on Shili. To us, you are the furthest from being nobody.”

Slowly standing, she helps Myna to her feet, and hugged her fiercely. Slow to react, she hugs back, and Rey smiles warmly. 

Later, as the others say goodnight, Rey lingers behind, wishing to speak to Atlas alone. 

“Is there anything else you need, Master Jedi?”

“Please, just Rey.”

“Not Rey Skywalker? Rey Palpatine?”

Oh. There’s no way she could have known. 

“How did you–?”

“Psychometry,” Atlas said, turning to face her, leaning on the workbench she had been standing over. “I saw it when you handed me your saber.”

“Where did you learn that?”

“I didn’t,” came a quick response. “It’s a gift that my father passed on to me. He was a Jedi, yeah?”

That got her attention, she stood a little straighter, and gave a look that urged the older woman to go on. 

“He was one of the few survivors that made it through Order 66 before the dark times, but he didn’t get to see the end of the Empire. You can wipe that pity off your face, I don’t need it.”

Rey shook her head, fighting back a scoff. 

“I was going to ask who he was,” Rey said, and Atlas deflated, a brief look of shame passing over her eyes as quickly as it came. She turned, and dug through a pile of salvage, pulling out an old holodisk. She tossed it to Rey, who caught it without missing a beat. 

“He stayed hidden for most of his life,” Atlas sighed, and Rey clicked it on, a picture illuminating of a man with orange hair and a scar across his jaw beside a woman with stark, silver hair and purple markings on her face, holding a sweet looking child. The child was Atlas. “It’s not a story that the Empire liked to tell. Not one that the Rebellion knew.”

Rey blinked, she’d read his name on the report, but she’d seen his face among those she saw when she was fading away. 

“Cal Kestis,” Rey whispers, and Atlas pauses peering at her curiously, urging her to continue. “He was apprentice to Jaro Tapal, and later Cere Junda. Master Cordova speaks highly of him–”

“Speaks?”

Rey sucks in a breath; it had all clicked into place so fast, the stories she’d heard in passing. 

“I have… a connection,” she says quietly, unsure how to describe. “There are thousands of generations of Jedi, and most of them I’ll never meet, but they live within me. They guide my path, and they have helped me to grow my skills, and learn more than I could possibly imagine. I was the last Jedi, but at times I am all the Jedi…”

She trails off, studying her counterpart’s face, who surveyed her as well, and fear of judgement snuck back in.

“You’ve spoken to my father?” Atlas asked quietly, her voice unsteady, and her hands shaking at her side. 

“No,” Rey says, avoiding her gaze and trying to ignore the growing lump in her throat. The fact that this woman likely had witnessed the brutal death of her father seemed too close to her own heart. She blinked back tears, trying to stay composed in front of a potential ally. “They only present themselves to me in moments of need. I’ve only spoken to Cordova once, he taught me how to read the Zeffo’s language. and only a few others have been a constant presence in my life since the battle of Exegol.” _Ben. Luke. Leia. Anakin. Obi-Wan._

A hint of anger glistened in Atlas’s tears, jealousy staining them as they fell, but she thought better of herself, hanging her head. 

Rey lets in a shaky breath, knowing it was better not to say anything more. 

It felt like a mistake to intrude on this peaceful world, on this woman’s life. She worried that by coming here, she had made the problem much worse.

-

“What’s wrong?” Poe asked her, voice just above a whisper. Finn and Myna were asleep on cots across the room. She peered into his worried eyes as she sat down beside him. 

She huffed a laugh, but it wasn’t lighthearted.

“Gods,” she sighed. “Nothing. Everything.”

She turned, and placed her forehead on his chest with an unpleasant groan. 

He took her hands in his, running his thumbs over her roughed knuckles. 

A light shut off down the hall, she peeled up and turn to look to the source. Her shoulders slackened. Atlas has gone to bed. 

“So I take it your talk with the resident hermit didn’t go so well?”

“She’s not a hermit, Dameron,” she hissed playfully, poking his side. “She’s a Force user, and her father was a Jedi. I let slip about my...gift, and it was like I couldn’t read her. I let her alone because I wasn’t sure how it came off, and oh Force, I could see the jealousy in her eyes–”

“Stop, look at me,” he said firmly, and she broke her ramble to meet his eyes. A familiar calm flowed through her as hazel met chocolate. “You told her the truth. That’s what matters, I’m sure she doesn’t think any less of you, one of the heroes of the galaxy–”

“Poe–”

“My hotheaded partner in crime–”

“Poe–”

“Love of my life,” he sighed, laughing at the pout on her face, cupping her cheek as she leaned into it. “Most stunning woman I know.”

“You’re just complimenting me now,” she groaned. 

“But it’s making you feel better, right?” He said, pulling her closer to him. She chuckled and rolled her eyes as she leaned against him.

“Sure, flyboy,” she huffed. “Let’s get some rest, we’ve got a long day of work ahead of us.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he whispered in her ear, kissing her neck as he lay down, pulling her down beside him. 

She smiled at him, eyes shining like stars in the dim light. 

“Love you, flyboy.”

He brushed her hair out of her face, hand coming to stay on her cheek, a reverent smile crossing his features as he studies her face.

“I know,” he sighed, placing a kiss on her forehead and pulling her closer.

In the arms of a pilot and under the light of the Bogano stars, Rey found a brief reprieve from her fears and nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had planned to include the visit to the Vault in this chapter, but some scenes with necessary reveals got too long. 
> 
> Yes, this will appear in the next chapter. 
> 
> For future context, a lot of the lore of this comes from Jedi:Fallen Order.
> 
> Atlas is an oc meant to be the child of Jedi Cal Kestis (the main character) and Nightsister Merrin (who becomes part of the crew of the _Mantis_ late in the game).
> 
> And I couldn’t help myself with the “I love you.” “I know.” Moment. AHAHA. Damerey will kill me one day bc I love it too much.


	4. Vault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The path ahead becomes slightly less clear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings:**  
>  Not super graphic depictions of blood and death towards the end of the chapter.

Rey and Poe rose early the next morning, grabbing protein rations from their bags before sitting outside to watch the sunrise.

“You know, we left the droids at home,” he noted, and she laughed quietly, taking a bite of her bar. 

“They’re not going to be happy,” she groaned. “We didn’t even tell them where we were going ... but it’s for their own good. BeeBee-Ate and Dio would never forgive me for letting this much mud get up in their circuits.”

“Threepio could’ve been helpful, though,” Poe sighed. 

“Don’t tell me you wish we brought him,” she said. “I’ve seen how much he gets on your nerves.”

“What? When you’re in a place with an unfamiliar ancient language painted everywhere it helps to have a translator.”

She laughed, taking his hand and a deep breath as warm colors painted the early morning sky. Layers of pinks and oranges and yellow draped over the clouds, and it was peaceful, calming even. 

“Do you think this is it?” Poe asks, snapping her from the quiet moment, and she turns to him. He’s avoiding her gaze, looking down at their joined hands. 

She runs her thumb over the back of his hand and sighs. Of all the places she’d looked, nothing had ever felt right. She knew that she would be able to tell right away, but she wasn’t sure what was stopping her here. 

“No,” she whispered, furrowing her brow, a little disappointment filling the air around her. “I don’t think it is…”

She trailed off, turning her eyes again to the horizon, where the sun now peaked over the flats, casting an orange glow on their faces. 

“But,” she sighed, sniffing.

“But?”

“There’s still a lot to be learned here, a lot to be taught,” her mind fell to Finn before Myna. He’d taken the last chance she’d given him, and she was not about to let that opportunity go to waste. Atlas might just give her a chance yet. “Someone who I can help.”

Poe smiles at her, brushing a rogue tear off her cheek, and she laughed, slightly choked up. 

“But it is quite beautiful,” she glanced back towards the spires of the Vault, glistening golden in the sunlight as the planet’s moon settled directly at the top of the structure. 

She presses her arm against his, and took another bite of the (admittedly terrible) protein bar. 

“Well,” he sighed, looking pensive. “Wherever you go, I’ll follow.”

It wasn’t even three months ago that Poe had decided to sell his apartment on Coruscant and move back to Yavin IV. In fact, it hadn’t taken much convincing. His fellow flight instructors had been sad to see him, one of the best pilots they’d ever seen, go, but had agreed that he deserved this escape. 

He had told her that in the moment, it felt truly and wholly _right_. She knew the feeling.

She squeezed his hand a little tighter, grateful for his warmth beside her. 

“I get the feeling that everything is about to change,” she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder. “For better or for worse.”

He doesn’t say anything, and that’s enough, because she knows that this will never change. Her breath caught in her throat, and tears rolled down her cheeks, though she couldn’t explain the feeling. The stirring inside of her, the quiet nudge of the force at her heart, and the world humming around her, and Poe beside her glowing golden in her mind.

-

After trekking across the cavern and using an intricate system of zip-lines, they reached the base of the vault, the muddy hill stretching high above them. 

“This is where I leave you,” Atlas called, taking a few steps away from them.

Rey stopped, and turned to face her, frowning. Atlas seemed to be shaking, and she could feel the pain pulsing off of her in waves. 

She sighs, and pads toward her. 

“What’s wrong?” Rey asked carefully. 

“I said I’d get you there, and I did.” Her voice shook in anguish. 

Blinking, Rey nods, and turns back to the hill above them. At the crest, a ghostly blue figure stares down at them, hand sliding from the metal spire as he turns away, descending into the temple.

“You feel it, though, don’t you?” Rey whispered, turning slightly over her shoulder. “The Force is calling you, Atlas. You just have to be brave enough to answer.”

With that, Rey started up the hill, the others quickly following, Atlas not far behind. 

At the top, they reached a door, covered in ancient hieroglyphs. She traced them with her fingers, the intricate designs both beautiful and hauntingly familiar. Closing her eyes, she placed her palm flat on it, and breathed life to the door, the Force flowing through it. 

It didn’t budge. 

“Karabast,” she muttered, taking a step back. 

“What's happening?” Myna asked, and she shook her head. 

“It won’t open for me,” but a sense of right took over, and her gaze fell on Finn.

“Rey, whatever you’re thinking–”

“Finn, please,” she implored, encouragement in her gaze and a hand outstretched towards him. 

He slid his gloved hand into hers with slight trepidation, and she took it gratefully. Turning back to the stone door before them, she turned out his palm and placed her hand over his, pressing it flat against a symbol in the center. 

She nodded encouragingly, and placed a hand on his shoulder, gesturing for Myna to join them. 

Slipping her eyes shut, she pictures the waypoints of the Force glowing through and around them, shimmering bright within Finn. 

“Now,” she whispered, barely audible above the wind. “Close your eyes.”

_Deep breath in._

“Find your center.”

_Out._

“Feel the Force flowing through you.”

_In._

“Reach out. Picture the door opening.”

_Out._

Rey feels a rumble in the ground. The sound of stone scraping stone fills her ears, following faint gasps from Poe and Atlas. 

“Good,” Rey laughs, opening her eyes and clapping Finn on the shoulder. “That’s good.”

“Good?” Myna gapes. “Finn, that was incredible!”

“Damn right it was,” Poe agrees, and Finn can barely keep the smile off of his face, looking to her for a sign of approval.

She nods as if to tell him they’ll talk in private later, and he smiles back. 

“Looks like a tight fit,” Poe groans, looking past them into the narrow passageway that descends deep into the ground below. “Wish I hadn’t had that second protein bar this morning.”

“Keep up, old man!” Myna cried, bumping past them, and squeezing in. 

Poe grunted at her jab, but his competitive side quickly took over and he disappeared in after her. She gestured for Finn to follow, and he smiled gently before slipping in between the rocky walls. 

Finally, Rey turned to Atlas.

“You’ll be okay,” Rey promised. She had seen the grave markers outside the spire. Atlas had buried her parents here. “They would’ve wanted you to move forward.”

A steely resolve grows in Atlas’s eyes, and she straightens. 

“For someone who’s almost fifteen years younger than I am, give or take,” she sighs. “You’re wise beyond your years, Jedi.”

“Well,” Rey smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes, not that the woman before her notices. “Sometimes you have to grow up a lot quicker than necessary. We have that in common.”

She turns away before saying anything else, and enters the temple. The tunnel, if you could even call it that, is dark and cold, but as it opens up, she can sense the awe of her friends. 

The room is circular, the ceiling domed and golden, daylight streaming in. There’s water up to her ankles, but as she looks up at the towering Zeffo painting, she can hardly contain her amazement. 

But then, she sees the mirror, glass broken and shattered, and she’s reminded of the dark-side cave on Ach-To. Then, the memory of the Death Star Wreckage came to join it.

She hesitates. 

She feels cold all over for a moment, and finally takes a step towards it, into the shadow. 

Her figure shifts and morphs before her eyes, turning dark like it had in the presence of the way finder. She chokes on any words she had almost said before, and freezes in place as her gnarled reflection turned away, and disappeared into the depths of the mirror. 

“Rey?” Poe called, quiet and gentle, but she still startled, letting out a gasp that silenced the chatter between Finn and Myna. 

She clears her throat, and shakes her head. 

“What are we looking at here then?” She says, her voice cracking slightly. She doesn’t miss the way Atlas’ gaze is trained on her. 

Myna smiles, and gazed around, pulling the datapad out of her bag, moving to the base of the mural.

“This looks like… karnite,” she says, running her hand across it. “This paint is ancient, but the glyphs don't match anything in any databank.” 

Rey nearly tripped on it, but it caught the light as she moved towards Myna. 

“What’s that?” Finn asked, stepping forward to join her. The flat circular structure appeared to be a keyhole of sorts, and inside of it, sat a small object, disrupted out of its place. 

Rey bent over to pick it up, and the moment her fingers touched it, she surged into a vision. 

A double-bladed red saber swung around, the reflection of a woman, the last living of her kind, and a holocron, glowing green as it hovered above.

A young girl held the hand of her father, and a droid beeped anxiously at their feet. He was saying goodbye.

That was new. 

Or then again, maybe it wasn’t. She was quite sure that power wasn’t hers at all.

Rey blinked, and shifted the device into place, and the vault came alive, the rooftop shifting, and the water draining from around their feet.

It revealed a beautiful, moss covered star chart below their feet, she traced it with her feet, locating points of familiarity: Ach-To, Exegol, Pasaana, Ilum, Dathomir, Coruscant. Others were marked by scathing burns: Jedah, Scarif, Alderaan, the Hosnian System, even Kijimi. 

Then, an oddly shaped planet, scratched out but not burned away: Mortis.

“This place is ancient,” Myna cries, curiosity sparkling in her eyes. “There’s no way that this map is up to date.”

“And yet,” Atlas stands beside Rey, studying her features. “It is.”

They stand there for a moment, the silence around them only broken by the rotating shield around the vault. 

“Rey?” A voice called, and they all turned to the source of it, a figure standing by the mirror. 

She took a few steps towards him, glancing back at her friends. 

Atlas looks like she’s seen a ghost, and well, she _has_ , and the others look at her carefully. 

She felt uneasy as she walked toward him, and despite the kind look in his eyes, there was torment too, a past. This was Cal Kestis, a man who fought long and hard to protect the people he’d loved in the face of overwhelming odds. 

“Dad?” Atlas called, and he smiled warmly, the pain in his eyes fading away. 

“You’re so big,” he whispered, and Rey fought her own tears. She was glad she could give this moment to someone else, but she’d never get to see her parents again. Her father had hidden from his destiny, while Cal had embraced his.

Atlas, she realized, was older than her father was, but their bond still remained as she rushed forward to embrace him. 

Rey lower her gaze. The moment felt private, even if she could feel the connection to Cal under her skin.

She raised her eyes to the mirror, staring at her reflection, which was slightly obscured by the force that pulsed from it. 

She could see the blue glow approaching her again, and he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“There’s a test ahead of you, Rey,” he said, quietly, just she could hear. “There is much of it that will ring with truth and that will be twisted by the darkness. Don’t let it consume you.”

“I won’t fail you,” she asserted, her face, determined. 

“No, you won’t fail yourself,” he responds before turning back to the mirror. She glanced at her companions, watching the exchange. “And you won’t fail them.”

He placed a glowing, blue hand on the mirror, and she nodded at her friends before following suit, feeling the Force flow through her, her hand at the center of a decades old crack in the mirror. 

The world went dark, and she fell to her knees, alone on an empty plane. 

Her hands came to her shoulders as she shivered, pushing herself to her feet as she studied her surroundings.

Moving forward slowly, the only sound that filled the plane was the clicking of her boots on the stone and her ragged breath. 

She stopped when her foot met something soft, and she stepped back. Lightning flashed with silent thunder, revealing the dead and bloodied face of her apprentice, her eyes open and staring up at her.

The ghastly glaze of death painted Myna’s eyes, but did nothing to distract from the scrapes and bruises that decorated her face. 

Rey felt sick.

She stumbled back, barely catching herself as the pain consumed her, backing up into another body.

Finn, wearing Jedi robes. Motionless, a sparking, broken lightsaber in his hand.

_Not real_ , she told herself, but it was as solid as he had been a few moments ago. 

She choked back a sob, and a hand closed around her wrist. She yelped and tried to pull away, but the grip was too strong. 

Another hand came to her face, and her face twisted in disgust until her assailant’s face was lit. She froze, staring into his eyes, the blood pouring from the corner of his mouth like a fountain, the life slowly leaving his eyes with one final draw of breath. He held her gaze, silent and unseeing. 

Her hands slipped into a pool of blood by her knees, soaking her palms in hot, red liquid. She saw the gaping wound on her chest, but it was too late, he was already gone.

She flung herself over Poe’s body, and sobbed openly, anger bubbling inside her, bloodstained handprints staining his shirt.

_“You could’ve saved them,”_ came a deep voice that filled her ears, and shook her core. She searched desperately for the source, and came to a set of glowing, yellow eyes and a red streaked face, darkness flowing through him like a black hole. 

But it was flowing through her, too.

“This isn’t real,” she gasped, her voice hoarse and sharp, distant and small compared to his.

_“You did this,”_ he says, ignoring her, but the phrase shakes her to her core, and as she stands, she lets out a feral growl, lunging for him, but he vanished into smoke, only to appear again behind her. 

She lands on her knees, hard, panting, struggling to shake the darkness that’s draining her slowly. 

_“Don’t fight it, Rey. It could help you bring peace to this galaxy.”_

“There is already peace,” she panted, but her strength is failing. She cannot fail them, not now, not when everything was starting to fall into place. 

_“Stop this at once,”_ comes a new voice, a woman’s, assertive, echoing strangely, as if her voice was embedded with power. _“How you torture her, brother.”_

Her brother hisses, and the pain in her body falls away, and she desperately reaches for her lightsaber, switching it on and turning on them quickly. 

It hits her like a star destroyer falling on her, she’s seen their faces before. In the Jedi texts. In paintings on the walls of temples in the farthest reaches of the galaxy. 

She glows a brilliant green, no need for the lightsaber to illuminate her face. The Daughter. 

His skin is gray, his eyes corrupted like the Emperor’s had been. The Son.

The daughter steps forward, holding out a hand to her, which she gratefully takes. 

The plane is filled with light and life, grass sprouting around her feet, a new landscape forming. 

But the bodies of her friends remain.

Panic floods her again. Their blood is still on her hands.

_“Is she like you?”_ The daughter calls, her voice projecting widely, and the son falters when a new figure manifests. 

The ghost of Anakin Skywalker places a hand on the ground, and it all falls away again, but not light nor dark, balanced. 

“Every generation has its hero,” He says, his face neutral, pained. “She is hers. She is the One.”

“I’m sorry,” Rey interrupts. “The ‘One?’”

_“The One fated to bring balance to all worlds,”_ The daughter sighs, her brother pacing in the background, prowling like a dog. _“Which you did, three years ago.”_

“By defeating the Emperor?”

Anakin laughs, and it feels patronizing, anger stirs inside of her, and the Son looks pleased. A set of the same emotions pass over Anakin’s face, his figure flickering faintly.

“That’s enough,” Anakin growls, and the Son stops, her anger fades. He turns back to her. “Yes, but no.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You will struggle with the dark side for the rest of your life,” he sighs, and she furrowed her brow. “As The Daughter and I live on within you, so does The Son.”

_“There must be a balance between us, the light and the dark, Son and Daughter,”_ The Son explains, crossing his arms over his chest. _“A Balance that is within you.”_

“When you defeated the Emperor,” Anakin added. “You became a vessel for not only all of the Jedi,” a haunting breathing filled the room. She turned to see the dark silhouette of Vader approaching, glowing red. “But all of the Sith as well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I saw TROS again on a whim yesterday and did some theorizing with some peeps about this concept of Rey being all the Jedi AND all the Sith, which will be pivotal in the coming chapters. 
> 
> The concept of the Son and Daughter will be further explored, as well as the Father. I recently watched the Clone Wars episodes in which they appeared, and wanted, originally, to make the Son the villain of this story. Given that all three died at the end of the set of episodes, it was important that I had them manifest another way. 
> 
> Rey’s test in the Vault is not yet finished, but it felt right to leave it on this cliff-hanger :3


	5. Blackout (Home)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey plunges further into a vision, and the group catches a glimpse of their next steps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit much but it sets up what I have in mind for the rest of the story. 
> 
> The vision portion of this chapter got away from me, but it’s really important so yeah haha
> 
> Also, Rebels references ahead.

“W-what?” She stuttered, backing away from the four figures before her, uncertainty pulsing in her veins, fear crackling in her fingers. 

Anakin takes a few steps towards her, the crease between his eyebrows clearer now. In response, she steps back.

“The path that you follow, now,” He whispers, far more gentle and kind than she ever thought he was capable of. “It’s not going to go the way that you think.”

“Because the dark side flows through me?” She hisses, clenching her fists to quell the sparking that curls between her fingertips. 

_Don’t lose control now._

He sees the broken look in her eye, and she can feel the fractured pieces of herself reflected in his gaze like the mirror. 

“Good,” Vader rasped, and Anakin snarled. “Good.”

A blade of light is drawn in his fingertips, one dark comes to meet it, wielded in the hands of a twisted version of himself. 

The Son and Daughter cower in fear from the battle, morphing into bird-like creatures that lift high into the sky, before diving. 

Run, a voice in her head says, her voice this time, but before her body responds, the birds collide with her, turning to mist. She chokes as she breathes them in, her vision blurring with the potency of the power that surges inside her. 

She falls backwards, lands hard in a field, coughing with the force of the impact. The roaring of blood in her ears does little to protect from the new sounds that surround her. 

Quiet and peaceful, the sound of whisper birds crying and various animals and insects calling out slows her racing heart as she pushes herself to her feet. 

She spies the Dameron compound as she comes up over the ridge, but as soon as she takes another step, it becomes eerily silent. 

There are footsteps rushing up behind her, and she draws her lightsaber, turning to face the source. Giggling fills her ears as the young girl runs past her, wild curls bouncing in the wind. 

She stops, and turns to face Rey, who sheaths her blade, and drops down to her knees before the girl. 

“Hey there,” Rey whispered. 

“Are you a Jedi?” The little girl asked, a playful smile on her lips. 

“Yes, stardust, I am,” she said, holding out a hand to her, the nickname sounding distant on her tongue. 

_No,_ a voice rumbles from deep within her. 

“What’s your name?” Rey asked as the girl took her hand. The girl pulses with the force, and it feels like Poe, and she wants to pull her close and hold her to her chest, protecting her from the cruel universe.

The little girl giggles again, and whispers it, but it’s muffled by an unseen barrier.

Suddenly, a shadow falls over them, and the girl screams, her small hand slipping away as she turned to run. 

_“Run, mama!”_ She cries, but her scream is still ringing in Rey’s ears, and she turns to the two figures approaching.

Hand in hand, the two figures that still haunt her nightmares stand before her. Her own gaunt face stares back at her from beneath a hood, and the menacing mask of Kylo Ren, red seeping through the cracks of his mask, dripping like blood. 

“You can’t run from us,” Her mirror image hissed, baring sharp teeth, unclipping the all-too-familiar double sided hilt from her belt as Rey pushed herself upward, reaching for a lightsaber that wasn’t there anymore. “We _are_ you.”

Kylo Ren jetted a hand out, and the force closed around her throat, bringing her towards him. There was no face behind the mask, just unseeing, glowing yellow eyes. She choked on nothing at all as her feet rose from the ground. She was cast backwards, and went crashing through a wall into what seemed to be an interrogation chamber. 

Vader was advancing on Cal Kestis and Cere Junda, but the scene froze as Cal turned to her, his blue lightsaber flickering red, his figure turning into one of an inquisitor. She stood, turned on her heels and ran, but didn’t get far, charging straight into the mirror. 

The room went dark.

She found her lightsaber again, and switch it on, bringing it above her head. In the mirror, the face staring back at her was dark, the blade red, her hands tingling with electricity.

“No,” she growled, tears pouring from her cheeks. “No!”

Sparks flew as the Emperor’s cackle rang in her ears, the mirror shattering, glass falling to her feet in patterns of lightning bolts. 

She blinked slowly, her body giving way, and tumbled to the ground. 

_“What knowledge do you seek?”_

A question that was answered by the very depths of her soul.

 _“Guidance.”_ The word fell off her lips in an involuntary motion as darkness peeled into her vision, and her eyes slid shut. 

A few agonizing moments of lost consciousness later, she’d jolts awake, her back against the mirror, fingers still tingling.

She lifts them before her, jolting at the sight of dried blood on her hands– they’re painted with it. Taking shuddering breaths, she pulls her knees up against her chest, tears pouring down her cheeks.

“You did it Rey,” came a voice, and achingly, she agonizes whether or not it was real or part of some cruel test. “Master, you did it!” 

Rey looks up to see the others standing in the vault, around the center of it. The ceiling had stopped moving, and a single ray of light crept through in a slim column. 

Feeling the pull of the Force she tried to stand, but her strength fails her, and she falls back before she’s even halfway up. 

The power is suffocating.

A gentle hand comes to her shoulder, and she turns to Poe, who’s smiling, but his gaze falters when he meets her eyes. 

“What is it?” She rasped, her voice unfamiliar.

“Rey, your eye,” he answered, and she picked up a piece of the mirror, her breath catching in her throat. 

Her right eye was hazel as it normally was, but the other glistened a sickly yellow, tainted and corrupt. 

“A true test of identity,” comes the voice of Cal Kestis, but this time, it’s in her head. 

She feels dizzy as Poe helps her up. 

“You’re bleeding,” he whispered, gripping her wrists, but then feels the sticky dryness of her palms, and sucks in a breath. “What happened?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she stumbled, and he lifted her arm over his shoulder. As they approached, Myna ceased her analysis, and Finn rushed to join them, steadying her other arm, hands still shaking. 

She looked up, and in the column of light floated two holocrons, both shattered. One glistened red, the other blue, and their call was tainted by the past. 

“What should we do?” Finn asked, and she turned to him, shaking the buzz that was in her head. “They’re broken, we can’t use or repair them.”

“I could,” she says, trying to shake them off of her. “I could use–”

“No,” Poe scolded. “You can barely stand on your own right now.”

She paused, thinking. 

“Perhaps,” Atlas sighed, avoiding Rey’s gaze. “If we’re not meant to use them, maybe there’s a clue for what you’re looking for.”

“Could you help us?” Myna asked, slipping her datapad into the satchel on her waist. “I mean use your… psychometry thing?”

Atlas chuckled, and nodded, and Rey was almost sure that as she placed a hand on the largest piece of the holocrons, she could see a reflection of the images passing through her fingers in her eyes. 

“The Jedi Holocron belonged to the Jedi Kanan Jarrus,” Atlas said, finally meeting Rey’s eyes. “It bore a message about Order 66 from Obi-Wan Kenobi. It was joined with a Sith Holocron from the planet Malachor, and used by Maul and Ezra Bridger before both holocrons were destroyed.”

“So we find them?” Finn suggested, but Rey shook her head. 

“No, Maul has been dead for decades and Ezra went missing a long time ago,” she said. 

“Well if he was a Jedi, you would know if he’s dead, right?” Poe offered, but she furrowed her brow. 

“Not all Force users are Jedi or Sith,” she whispers, the phrase having more weight in her mouth than she intended. 

-

Chewie growled a sound of worry as they approached the ramp of the ship. Rey was hardly walking on her own, still disoriented from the vision, though not even sure it was a vision at all. 

Poe helped her wash her hands, bandaging her scraped elbows, and Rey still shudders at the sight of the untouched skin of her palms. She couldn’t bear to tell him where the hot, red liquid had come from.

“What did you see?” He whispered, handing her a towel to dry them. 

“Things I can’t begin to explain,” she murmured, and he combed his fingers through her hair, brushing the short locks out of her face. “I’m not even sure what was real.”

She looked at her reflection in the mirror, barely able to look herself in the eyes, golden yellow haunting her. 

“I thought I was starting to know my path, but now I’m not so sure.”

“What do you mean?” His voice is small, but caring all the same.

“I was a Jedi,” she said, reaching for his hand, and looking up at him through thick lashes. “But there are remnants of the dark side living within me like the Jedi do.”

“What do you mean, you _were_ a Jedi?”

“I don’t expect anyone to understand,” she sighs, tracing circles nervously on his palm. “But there can be no balance in the force if I remain a Jedi.”

When he doesn’t respond, she pulls away, and sits on the edge of the fresher, lowering her head in her hands.

“Hey,” he calls after another beat of silence. “I’m not judging you, sunshine, I’m just surprised.”

She chuckled awkwardly, hugging herself. 

“Ya know, the whole, ‘the dark side lives in me like the Jedi do’ thing is a little hard to wrap my head around.”

She dried her hands on the towel, and turned to face him. His eyes look sad. 

“But are you sure you want to give up this Jedi thing?” He adds, putting a hand on the edge of the basin, leaning on the sink.“It’s been a part of your life, maybe even your identity, for so long.”

Rey pinched the bridge of her nose anxiously. 

“Have you considered, ya know, trying to fight the darkness?”

“It’s not that simple,” she whispered, brows knitted tight. 

“Then make it simple.”

Hesitating, Rey took a deep, settling breath before straightening.

“The dark side is a part of me just as much as the light is,” Her eyes found the ceiling. “When I defeated Palpatine, it found its place in me, just as the Jedi had a few moments before. With them, two ghosts of the embodiments of light and dark, the Son and the Daughter, took their place in me.”

She glanced down at her hands, blood still under her nails. 

“Their power is reawakening in me, just like my own presented itself a few years ago, and it is beyond anything I could ever imagine. To defeat the dark in me, I would have to kill the Son for good, which, given what I have seen, will be no simple feat.”

“And that’s a journey we will take together,” Poe says matter-of-factly, almost nonchalantly. “If that’s the way that you want to go.”

“I’m not sure I can give you an answer right now,” she shook her head, pushing herself to her feet. 

“That’s okay,” he smiled reassuringly, and it warmed her. “But we should go home in the meantime so you can recover.”

“Okay,” she whispered, and he offered her a hand again. She curled her fingers into his. “Force, how do you always know the right thing to say?”

He chuckled, the tension cut by the sound. He dropped her hand, placing his over his heart.

“You used to want to bite my head off.”

“But times have changed, and so have we.”

She took a few steps towards him, like she was stuck in his orbit, and his gravity was drawing her in. His features softened a little, and he reached out to her, cupping her cheek. 

With his other hand, he brushed stray hair away from her forehead, tracing the fading scar above her right eyebrow. 

The look in his eyes was too much, and with a reminder to herself that she already _was_ home, she leaned in, planting her lips firmly on his. It was soft at first, but slowly grew more insistent. They gasped for breath as he began to run kisses down her jaw, her hands running up his shirt.

“They’re making out!” Myna called outside the door. “You owe me ten credits, Finn!”

With a groan, she opened the door, and Myna startled. Cheeks still flushed, Rey raised her eyebrows.

“The ship is ready to go whenever you are, Master,” she said sheepishly. “Atlas waited for you.”

“Thank you,” Rey growled, and gestures for her to go. Turning back to Poe, she frowns. He bites his lip trying to hold back a chuckle, but she shoves him, and wipes the slight stain of her lip color on the corner of his mouth off with her thumb. 

He looks at her like she’s the only star in his sky, and her cheeks burn as she turns away.

“You’re not coming with us?” Rey asked Atlas a few moments later.

“No,” Atlas shook her head, but smiled faintly. “I think that there are a few things I have to face here first. If you ever get that Academy up and running, though, I might come around.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Rey smiles genuinely. “You’ll call us if you need anything, right?”

“Of course, young master Jedi.”

Atlas pats her on the shoulder in a friendly gesture and waves to the others at the ramp of the ship before turning to go.

“Good to go?” Rey called out to Chewie, who was taking one last check of the _Falcon’s_ systems. 

He let out an affirmative growl, handing Myna the datapad, and put a hand on Rey’s shoulder as he moved inside. 

She smiled warmly, still not used to the familial affection from the wookie even after all this time. Almost six years now.

Taking one last breath, Rey scanned the landscape and found Atlas’s retreating form. She knew that she would be returning here in the near future, for better or for worse.

“May the force be with you,” she whispered under her breath, and Atlas halted, glancing back over her shoulder with a nod. 

Turning away, Rey retreated to the cockpit.

Yet again, an overwhelming feeling of change passed over her, but then again, so much already had. 

She shook it away, the peace that settles in her chest washing the feeling away. 

“Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teehee back to Yavin IV for a sec, looking forward to some more serious conversations and some more revelations about the coming events
> 
> Blurring the lines between good and bad yet again hehe
> 
> Hope you enjoyed  
> W/ love as always  
> Berry


	6. Stargazer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The stars have always enchanted her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is _a lot_ shorter, and definitely darker than other chapters in the beginning.
> 
> It felt right to end where I did on this boi

The flight back to Yavin IV was quiet. She and Chewie sat in the cockpit while the others took to the crew quarters to catch some rest. 

Rey had shaken away their requests for her to join them, her mind still reeling with images that still peeked out from the edge of her mind. 

The glow of hyperspace was mesmerizing as she sat in the pilot’s seat, knees tucked up to her chest. 

_“What is your quarry, child?”_ A voice echoes in the back of her mind, filling her up, sounding like it’s everywhere. Closing her eyes tight, she clutches her ears, groaning slightly. Her world tilts on its axis, power not her own turning on her.

Chewie growls a concern, but she doesn’t hear it, the blood roaring in her ears deafening.

“Get out of my head,” she hissed through gritted teeth, nails digging into her scalp as she groaned in pain, nearly doubling over. 

Chewie reaches out to hear as tears poured from her eyes. He wraps her in his arms, as her breath catches.

_“Oh, dear child,”_ the Son laughs, a guttural sound echoing from deep within her. _“You want to kill me. Foolish. I am already dead.”_

“I can’t kill you,” she gasped in between shuttering breaths, leaning into Chewie’s warm embrace. It centered her even when her entire body writhed in pain. Distantly, she wonders if he can hear the voice, too, but thinks better of it as her nails dig deeper into his fur. “You are just as much a part of me as your sister is.”

A scream tears from her lips, her throat burning from the effort. Slamming her eyes shut, she searches for her center, and when they slip open, she stands in his domain. 

She’s in her own head. 

The power here is hers. 

Not his.

_Hers._

She stares down at her hands, feels the Force flowing through her, and steadies herself, pain becoming static in the nerves firing in the back of her mind.

_“But if I am who they say I am,”_ Her voice sounds other worldly, her hands glow golden, and she closed her fist. He began to choke. _“I could control you. I could destroy you.”_

Jetting her hand out, she pushes him away, forcing him to vanish, and she falls to her knees. 

Her eyes slip open, and she lets out a sob, blinking back tears as she catches the gazes of her friends, and buries her face in Chewie’s fur. 

Then, she turns her eyes back to the swirl of the galaxy outside the viewport, the deadly vacuum so beautiful that it calmed her. It set her at ease better than any drug ever could.

An alarm beeps, and Poe rushes up to pilot the ship, and the stars streak back into focus, and she lets out a quiet sigh of relief at the sight of Yavin Prime’s orange glow, and it’s moons peeking out from behind. Her violent breathing settles.

She’s grateful that they respect her space as they disembarked the ship back at the compound. Chewie had reluctantly let her go, worry evident in the low warbles she could barely make out.

She met Poe’s eyes over her shoulder, then Finn’s, shaking her head at them. Myna sends her a reassuring pulse through the force, and Rey sends one back, but it’s weaker, less wholehearted. 

Kes comes to greet them, but she breaks away from them before he can say anything, one hand covering her mouth, the other wrapped around her waist. 

The droids whirr after her, but she hears Poe call a scold and their happy beeping subsides.

She stops in front of the Force tree, and falls to her knees in the mud, fresh from the early-afternoon storm. 

Swinging her legs around, crossing them gently, she meditates. It was a practice that Leia had taught her to calm her nerves, to focus herself, to feel the light around her.

The tree surrounds her in warmth, kind and reassuring. Full of light, far different from the tree that had housed the Jedi texts when they still resides on Ach-To. It’s roots stretch out in tendrils deep into the ground, and in the same manner, it reaches out in the force, showing her a beautiful, interconnected web of wells in the force. It draws some of her overwhelming strength away for a moment, and somehow, the weight of the universe, of all her responsibility, feels lighter. 

Her eyes opened slowly, and she gazed up to the glowing flowers of the tree above her. Even in the evening light, the shadow of Yavin Prime casting itself across the sky, they sparkled like the constellations up above. 

“You’ve been out here a while,” she startled as Kes’s voice echoed calls from behind her. “I was starting to think you ran away.”

It had been a long time since someone had truly snuck up on her. 

She let out a breath in response, and he grunted slightly as he moved to join her. 

“I’m not sure I could if I tried,” she whispered. 

Rey turned to meet his eyes, and was struck by the sincerity in them. Warm and kind, they beckoned her to go on. 

“This place,” she gasped, glancing into the branches again. “I’ve made so many connections here. I found a family here.”

Kes laughs softly, gratefully, and offers her a hand, which she takes. 

“But so much has changed, and so much is going to change. I’m afraid of who I’ll become.”

“Oh, mija,” he sighs, rubbing a thumb over her knuckles. “Some things never change.”

Her eyes rose to his, and he hooked a finger under her chin. 

“You will always be welcome here,” he sighs. “No matter what happens. You are my family, whether my son finally gets the guts to ask you or if you decide to kick his ass to the curb–”

“Kes!” She laughed.

“Or if something goes wrong,” his face turns serious, as if he’s seen all of her hardship, all her life. The focus of all her pain. “You have a home here.”

She wraps her arms around his neck, and whispers:

“Thank you.”

The first thing she asks Poe later, over a cup of caf and a holomovie playing distantly in the background is:

“What does ‘mija’ mean?”

He looked stunned, she hadn’t said anything to him since they left Bogano. 

“It means daughter,” he replies, furrowing his brow, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as she sat beside him. “Why do you ask, sunshine?”

Her smile is wider and brighter than she thinks she’s ever smiled. 

“No reason, flyboy,” she whispers as she fights warm tears. 

“Everything okay?” He brushes a tear from her cheek that she hadn’t noticed had escaped. 

She nodded, her earlier brush with the dark side forgotten. 

In that moment, everything was okay. At least, for the time being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m just saying, Kes loves Rey to death, no one can change my mind on that. 
> 
> I also considered Kes telling her “Never be afraid of who you are” instead of “Some things never change” but that felt too cruel aHAHAH.
> 
> Coming up, Rey makes a couple of meaningful decisions, and the crew go to see some old friends alongside Jannah and Rose.


	7. Two steps forward, One Step back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey takes two steps toward a brighter future, but must step back into the past first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been feeling blocked so this chapter is kind of short. I know where I want this story to go it’s just a matter of writing it.

“Oh man,” Poe said as they walked into the kitchen, hand wrapped around her waist. “That smells amazing.”

“Glad you two decided to join us,” Kes grunted, and Rey felt her cheeks burn thinking about the early morning’s activities. He stirs something in the saucepan and her face lights up. 

“Anything we can help with?” Rey asked, placing a hand on his shoulder as she reached for her water cup. 

“No offense, mija,” Kes said, turning to her with arms crossed. “But the last time we let you try to cook you almost burned the whole place down.”

“He’s right, sunshine,” Poe laughed, and she sawked him hard on the arm. He groaned, and Kes shook his head endearingly.

“Oh, hush, he deserved it!”

“He did.”

_“Hey!”_

“What did Poe deserve?” Finn called, leaning over the bar, catching a glimpse of Poe rubbing his arm, and chuckles, caf in hand. 

“It’s almost done, kids,” Kes calls, laughing as he turns to Finn. “Myna up yet?”

“I think she went for a run,” Finn said. “She looked like she’d been up a while.”

“She’s an early riser,” Rey groaned. 

“Earlier than you?”

Later, she stands in the doorway, listening to the rain, a quiet, steady pitter-patter on the leaves of the forest calming her. Her stomach is full, and her heart is warmed, and suddenly, she’s overwhelmed with belonging. 

Her breath catches, and it all clicks in an instant. 

But she hesitates. Was she really willing to go the distance to slay the last of the darkness inside her? Was it really there or something left behind, a fragment of her heritage perhaps, to torment her?

Everything seemed to finally be settling. The galaxy was at peace, and the First Order was now but a distant memory, but here she stood, the face of an old ghost, older than she could even comprehend, tearing her up inside while his sister attempted to chip away at him. 

She wondered what would happen if she did nothing, and turned a blind eye to the battle stirring within her. Would they destroy each other or would it destroy her?

No, she wouldn’t let that happen. She knew in her heart that if she stood idly by that she wouldn’t get to see the soft life that the Force had shown her, had _promised_ her. If she did something now, maybe that future was far closer than it seemed. 

With a deep breath, she turned on her heel, ignoring the dull voice of the Brother scolding her efforts to fight him, and stepped into the kitchen where Poe and Kes were quietly talking. 

At the look on their faces, she shrunk inside herself for a split second.

“I’ve interrupted something important,” she says. “I’ll come back–”

“Hey, sunshine, no,” Poe calls, reaching out to her, and she hesitantly takes his hand, nerves creating a knot in her throat. “What’s on your mind?”

“There isn’t any good way to say this,” she sighs, and they look worried, but she shakes her head with a laugh. “Sorry, sorry, just nervous… um… I know where I want to build the Jedi Temple.”

“You’re going to go through with it?” Poe asks with a dazzling smile, pride radiating off of him. She nods, and turns to Kes.

“I’d like to build it here,” she adds. “Across the valley at the old rebel base, if that’s okay with you.”

“More than okay,” Kes laughs, and locks eyes with Poe, a shared, secret smile passing between them. He wraps them both in a hug, and she giggles joyfully. 

But her heart sinks at the thought of breaking the next part of this. 

Poe catches her eyes, and rubs a comforting hand down her arm. 

“What is it?”

“I… I am going to pursue a way to destroy the darkness,” she can’t meet his eyes. “Hopefully for good, and I can’t begin to train Jedi until it’s done.” 

Stunned, charged silence fills the kitchen.

-

The quiet hum of the ship around her distracts from the frustration. She knew that they would react this way, but it was a whole other thing when it actually happened. Elbow deep in a control panel, she was sure there was something she could fix. 

Hissing, she pulls her hands out when something pricks her finger, and sucks the blood out of it. 

“A-Are you... okay?” Dio inquires, rolling back and forth anxiously. 

“I’m fine, little duck,” she sighs, furrowing her brows as she considered her options. 

There were so many places that she could start, a whole wide galaxy of ruins and temples and artifacts. She considered what she had seen in the past few days, and was almost certain that she was set on this path by the force and the force alone. There was no way she would have found Bogano without the steady lull of the force guiding her. 

Footsteps dragged her away from her thoughts, and she stared up at Finn as he stormed into the room. He crossed his arms, looking at her with a question lingering in his gaze. 

“What?” She huffed, pushing herself to her feet, standing eye level with him. 

He shakes his head, frustrated, and she grunted in response, reaching for a rag to wipe the grease from her hands.

Dio rocks back and forth nervously, turning its head back and forth between them. 

“I’m surprised you didn’t just go yet,” he sighed, the frustration disappearing into disappointment. 

“You really think I’d do that?” She whispers, pain in her throat. 

“You have before,” He cries, and she turns to him with sad eyes, her brows knit tight. She reached out to him, wrapping him in her arms. 

“I’m sorry,” she rubs his back, pulling him tighter. “This time will be different, I promise. No leaving anyone behind.”

He sniffs as he pulls back to look her in the eye. 

“So where do you want to start?”

She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. If only he could know the power she was about to face, the risk she was about to put him in, him and everyone she loved and cared for.

“I want to go back to Coruscant,” she brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. “There's some people I’d like to talk to, a place I’d like to visit.”

“That’s a good plan, Rey,” Finn sighed, a distant look in his eyes and she could feel the unease radiating off of him. 

“There’s something else, isn’t there?” She asked, her voice softening, genuine worry painting her gaze. 

“I’ve had a vision,” he said, the corner of his lips tugging up for a split second. “I just want you to be safe.”

She doesn’t press the subject much further; the look in his eyes is almost personal, but like he’s keeping something to himself that he desperately wants to tell her. 

“If it makes you feel better,” she sighs. “I called Jannah and Rose after I told Poe and Kes. They’re going to meet us there tomorrow night.”

His eyes light up. 

“Really?”

“Yeah,” she sighs, running a hand back through her hair. “It’s like you said: no one left behind.”

The next morning, she stands under the awning of the guest house where she and Poe had nestled themselves into. Blowing the heat away from the mug of caf in her hands, she turned back to the door, where Poe now stood, studying her carefully. 

She smiled and turned away, the future feeling clear, if only for a brief moment.

“You’re okay?” He asks quietly, arms crossed over his chest. She nods with a smile she knows he can’t see, and peers through the rain towards the Force Tree that glimmers in the growing light. 

She’s almost sure she can see the little girl from her vision, and could swear her life on it. Rey blinked, and she was gone, her breath hitching with the promise of something more lingering on the horizon, just out of reach.

Later, the once glistening, pristine surface of Coruscant stares at them as they descend, a shadow of what it once was in the Age of the Republic. In the three, almost four years, since the end of the war, much had changed.

As one of the great core worlds, it was quickly regrowing its infrastructure, the result of peacetime, and the planet’s growing economy was reflected in the flourishing new government that they’d helped to build. Rey didn’t regret stepping back when the deed was done, neither did Finn or Poe.

Their lives were their own now, not party to a war they had inherited from their families, not idols that the people of the galaxy worshiped. They were just people who sought to see through peace in their own lives. 

It was ironic, she thought, that just as soon as she had peace in reach, chaos tormented her again, but this time it tore at her alone. 

She shook her head as she stepped off the ship on the familiar platform to Poe’s old apartment: one he had seldom used and one that both she and Myna had invaded.

The hesitant smile faded from her face. 

A few months ago, standing under the tree on Life Day, Rey was sure she was set on not coming back here. Then again, the Force always had other plans. 

She peered over the city, her gaze tracing the skyline. Amidst the now dull looking buildings, the refurbished senate building and the New (New) Republic Navy Academy shined bright white in the hazy sun. That would be where they would go after a brief moment of reprieve. 

It was where they’d reunite with Jannah and Rose, and where she’d take her next step forward. 

But then again, sometimes the only way forward was to first take a step back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, I’ve been feeling a bit blocked. This has just been chilling for the past couple of weeks, and in my craziness I haven’t found much time to write when I’m not completely exhausted. 
> 
> Things I hope happen in the next chapter:   
> -Reunite with Jannah and Rose  
> -Catch up with Hera and Wedge at the Flight Academy  
> -Glimpse into the three year gap  
> -Jacen Syndulla!!


	8. Fresh Pressed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fresh Pressed Uniforms, and a brief encounter with an old friend before a meeting that quickly turns tense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a shortie bc I’ve been blocked but finally starting to get somewhere again.

“Do they know we’re coming?” Rey asked Poe as they disembarked onto the landing pad, wearing uniforms that had been carefully pressed. They hadn’t been worn in a couple of months. 

As he turned to face her, she straightened his collar, and brushed a stray curl out of his eyes. He sighed with a shake of his head, and placed his hands around her wrists. 

“If neither of us called ahead of time, then,” he scrunched his nose. “No, they don’t, but we still outrank most of them.”

“Yeah,” she grunted. “Even though you’ve been gone since Life Day.”

“I was on vacation,” he laughed as they started down the steps.

“Yes from being a _General_ in a flight academy.”

“I’m not good at politics, never have been,” he laughs. “And I don’t want to be stuck up in some office.”

“Yeah, well, maybe you should take a chance on that,” she said, and he raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m sure they’d still take you.”

“Who are you and what have you done with my Rey?” He laughed as he shook his head. They were entering the hangar now.

“I just don’t want you to feel like you’re not doing anything,” she placed a hand on his arm, brushing it lightly. “You used to get anxious when you weren’t on your feet.”

“Maybe I’d rather spend all my time with you,” he laughed, and grabbed her hand. 

“As much as I love you, flyboy,” she teasingly tried to tear away from him. “All hours is a bit much.”

He mocked heartbreak, and slumped his shoulders, pouting. 

Shaking her head, she moves to kiss his cheek, but he turns just in time to catch her lips before taking off a few paces ahead, leaving her to flush a deep shade of scarlet. Even after everything, he still managed to fluster her. 

As they entered the hangar, she was struck by the aching familiarity of it, almost freeing in the rush of engines and busy mechanics calling out orders to each other. The pilots barely payed them any attention, save a few who recognized them and couldn’t believe that _the_ Poe Dameron, and _the_ Jedi Master Rey Skywalker, some of the best pilots to come out of their generation’s war, were striding towards command right in front of them. 

“Dameron?” Someone called, and they both turned to see a familiar face dropping out of an X-Wing. 

“Pava!” He answered, laughing, and took excited strides towards her before wrapping her in a fierce embrace. 

After they pulled apart, and Rey had joined them, she was surprised that Jess pulled her in for a hug, too, still not quite used to the easy affection that Poe used to display with his squad members. 

“What are you guys doing here?” She clutches her flight helmet in both hands. “You’ve been gone so long I thought you’d might have filed for retirement.”

“Afraid not, Testor,” he laughs, placing a hand on her shoulder. “But we’re not back here just so I can jump in an X-Wing and blow something up. We need to speak with Hera.

“Official Jedi Business,” he added, his words stretching dramatically.

“Oh wow,” she snorted, and turned back to Rey. “He seems way too enthusiastic about this.”

“He is,” Rey takes his hand in hers. “But he’s right. I’ve got some issues that need sorting out, and we were hoping General Syndulla might be able to help us.”

“She’s up in command right now,” Jess pitches her thumb in the direction of the command center. “She didn’t seem too happy with Jacen earlier, so let’s hope she’s in a good mood today.”

Poe huffed a laugh. 

“I’m assuming you guys won’t be sticking around if you find what you’re looking for,” She sighs, and smiles gently at Rey. “But the squad is going out for drinks tonight, and I’m sure they’d love to see you both.”

“We’ll be there, Jess,” Rey smiles. “Hope you don’t mind if we bring the others?”

“The more the merrier. I’ll send you the address after my briefing,” she checks her the chrono on the wall. “...Which I am five minutes late for. I’ve got to go, but we’ll catch up more tonight, I promise.”

She waves, and takes off jogging before they can get another word in.

She watches as Poe crosses his arms, and sighs, his gaze following an A-Wing as it takes off. 

“Hey,” she whispers, placing a gentle hand on his arm. He blinks out of what seemed like a bit of a trance and turns back to her. “You miss it, don’t you?”

“There are more important things right now,” he sighed, and they started walking again. He wouldn’t meet her eyes. 

“That’s not what I asked, Poe,” she scolded, her voice dropping low and serious. He turns to her, eyes flicking to hers before finding her feet. “I just don’t want you to feel like you’re restraining yourself from doing what you want. Especially if you’re holding back because of me.”

She furrows her brow as she pushes a few paces ahead as they ascend the staircase, brushing past a few familiar faces that greet them warmly. As they step into command, he grabs at her elbow, but can’t seem to say anything. 

Shaking her head, she jerks away, and focuses herself on the task ahead. That was a conversation that they could have later, when they were alone. 

“General Syndulla,” she called when she spotted the Twi’lek woman speaking with a technician by the main console. Hera was only a few years older than Leia would have been, but seemed just as tired, having faced more loss and hardships than any one person should be allowed to endure. Still, she smiled warmly at the young pair as she dismissed the tech and turned to them. It still surprised Rey that she had stuck to the Republic even after all this time, despite the fact that she and her son had only seen combat in the second Great War at Exegol.

A shutter passed down her spine at the thought of it. 

“Master Skywalker,” she reached out to hug Rey, which she accepted graciously, the maternal familiarity calming her nerves. “General Dameron.”

She rolled her eyes endearingly as she clapped him on the shoulder. 

“It’s good to have some of our best pilots back after their excursion,” she laughs, her eyes crinkling at the corners, her smile almost knowing. “I wasn’t expecting to see you back so soon, though. Looking for trouble again, already?”

Rey gave her a restrained smile, knowing that she meant it ironically, but it seemed that no matter what she did, trouble seemed to follow her name. 

Hera’s features instantly shifted, evidently catching the disarray of emotions passing over her face, and Rey wasn’t even sure what she was seeing. She gestured for them to follow, and they entered her office, the door hissing shut behind her, sealing them away from the busy noise of the facility. 

They sat opposite each other at her desk, and Poe lingered by the doorway, an anchoring presence in the back of her mind. Distantly, she was aware of the Force signatures of the bustling leadership of the New New Republic Navy.

“What’s wrong?”

Rey swallowed, and met her eyes finally. 

“I wanted to ask you some questions,” she asked, her tone careful. “There have been a few developments and I have been trying to seek guidance–”

“Say no more,” Hera sighed, leaning back in her chair, the material crinkling softly. She bit her lip, glancing away for a moment before all of her reservations and grief passed away. “What would you like to hear about Kanan?”

Rey blinked, once, then twice.

“Sorry, ma’am,” she whispers. “I wanted to know what you could tell me about Ezra Bridger.”

Hera stared at her, hand clenching the armrest tight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, the beginnings of Poe’s internal conflict starts to take form in a rather obvious way. Jacen Syndulla is offhandedly mentioned. Hopefully we finally meet him next chapter I feel like I keep pushing stuff. 
> 
> But Black Squadron Buddies Returning too!! Soon: Drinks with Jess, Sura, Iolo, and Karé, probably from Poe’s POV so we see more of the conflict even tho this is mainly a Rey-centric story
> 
> Also Soon: More Rebels stuff


	9. Voice of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hera answers Rey’s questions, and the crew heads out for a brief reprieve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A mix of angst and other stuff ahead, featuring a section with Poe’s point of view. 
> 
> Almost a filler, but some important plot points come into view here.

“How do you know that name?” Hera rasps, the stress and memories of it filling her gaze. “It’s not in any declassified reports—”

“There are stories that I’ve heard,” she smiles faintly. “But mostly, visions, flashes of images and memories that aren’t mine, and,” she blinks slowly, her face hardening. “There were holocrons in a temple on Bogano. The ones he used with Maul. Another Jedi of past helped guide me towards this path, I—”

“Where did you hear the stories?” Hera asked, her voice small, but assertive enough to cut her ramble off all the same.

Rey hesitates. Her ability was not publicly noted. 

“From Kanan,” she takes a shaky breath. “And Ahsoka.”

Hera shakes her head. 

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” she whispers, but Rey quietly urges her to go on. “It’s only fitting that you’d seek him out.”

“You’re not upset?”

“That you’ve spoken to my dead husband?” She laughs, but the lingering anxiety still charges the space between them. “No, you’re alone in this, and he was always a good teacher. I’ve spoken to him, too.”

Rey doesn’t respond, and listens to the quiet hum of the light lingering in the back of her mind; The Daughter holds him back, only for a moment. The turmoil resumed, and her shoulders tense with the power of it. It takes all of her strength to keep it unseen, to not drop to the ground and writhe.

“What do you want to know?” She asks calmly, seeing the shift in Rey’s behavior. 

“Did they ever find him?”

“You could call it that,” Hera’s eyes fell. “He was never quite the same, and staying hidden wasn’t easy.”

“Can you tell us where he is?”

“He’s home,” she pauses for a moment. “Lothal. With Sabine.”

There was a brief pause. 

“So you’re telling us,” Poe finally spoke up. Rey turns to look at him, noticing the faint annoyance in his gaze. “There’s a Jedi that’s been living in the inner rim and he managed to go unnoticed for more than thirty years?”

Hera laughed despite herself, Rey could see the reservations in her gaze. 

“I admire your moxy, Dameron,” she sighed, rubbing her forehead before loosening her collar a bit. “But Ezra never did complete his training. When Sabine and Ahsoka found him, he wasn’t the same man that he was before, and he made the decision not to train with Luke or even teach at his Academy.

“Rey, I know that you have your reasons for wanting to find him, but I’m not sure he will listen to you. He’s not the starry-eyed kid he used to be.”

Rey huffs. 

“All due respect, General,” she crossed her hands in her lap, straightening her back. “But neither am I. The Force guided me to him, and I believe in the path that I follow.”

“Very well,” she looks at them both. “I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours, kid, but I truly hope that you find what you’re looking for.”

“Thank you, Hera,” Rey whispers, and stands. She lowers her gaze. “I hope so, too.”

“You’re welcome,” she replies, a half smile on her features. “I’ll send the coordinates by the end of the day and let them know you’re coming.

“And, Dameron?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I expect to see you back here soon. And not as an _instructor_.”

“You have my word, General Syndulla.”

“Good,” she places a hand on Rey’s shoulder, and peers kindly into her eyes. “Be careful, Master Skywalker.”

“I will be, General.”

They breathed a sigh of relief as they left the room a few minutes later, the release of tension making her feel infinitely lighter on her feet as they started back through the hallways. 

“That went better than I expected,” Rey whispered, and a group of pilots in orange jumpsuits rushed past them, greeting them excitedly.

Poe shook his head, his hand brushing hers as they walked through the doors of the main entrance to the building. It was here that the city center was revealed to her, bustling and glorious and glittering, but it didn’t cease the tight knot in her chest. 

Only did it dissipate when her gaze fell upon the statue, a stunning bronze shining in the sunlight. The memory of General Leia Organa lived on in the hearts of the people, and even years after her death, the base was still decorated with flowers from all over the galaxy. At the other edges of the courtyard were similar statues of Master Luke and Han Solo, and a brief feeling of grief washed over her, fading as quickly as it came. She had a connection to them now. No one was ever really gone.

Someone calling their names caught her, reeling her away from her train of thought as she turned to meet the source. Finn, Myna, Jannah, and Rose were standing near the bottom of the stairway, sticking out among the bustling cadets. 

Rose waved wildly, and Rey’s smile spread wide at the sight of the tiny Senator and technological manager from Hays Minor. With a bit of pep in her step, Rey walks a little faster, wrapping Rose and Jannah in her arms.

They laugh, and she feels warmth in her stomach, slightly distant and unfamiliar. 

Sisterhood, gods, she missed this.

“It’s so good to see you, Rey,” Jannah said, a hand lingering on her shoulder after the three pulled away. Rose quickly moved to hug Poe, who looked like he might be suffocating. 

“You too,” she hoped her tone was reassuring, but she could only do her best. “I’m glad you guys could join us.”

“One last adventure?” Jannah laughed, crossing her arms with a raised eyebrow. Rey’s thoughts flickered to the few battles they fought together post-Exegol, and smiled, though the thrill of it wasn’t all there. 

“One last adventure.”

“How did it go?” Finn interjected, stepping up beside them. Myna smiles at her master too, if not appearing slightly uneasy.

“As well as it could’ve,” she runs a hand back through her hair. “We’ve got a location, and Hera is going to send us coordinates, but I’m not sure I’m going to find what I’m looking for.”

Finn pulled a face, and Myna sighed, meeting Rey’s eyes, as if she was trying to peer beyond the carefully chosen words. 

“You will,” Finn said with more certainty than she could every muster. “I have a feeling.”

-

That night, Rey stood in front of a mirror, shifting awkwardly in the dress that Rose and Jannah had insisted she’d keep after all this time. _Surely_ there would be a time when she needed a skin-tight, drop-necked, open-back dress that was a shade of green that looked so brilliant with her skin tone. Grimacing slightly, she tugged at the hem that fell halfway down her thighs, and reached for the silver hoops, attaching them firmly to her ears. 

She hardly recognized herself with how much make-up she had on. Her feet already ached from her heels. 

A timely distraction, she noted. 

The prospect of going drinking with some familiar faces had, at first, made her turn her nose up, thinking of the late nights they spent in the cantina with the sour ale in the weeks after Exegol. 

Rey realized that she had only started drinking, or at least enjoying a drink, until after she had died and came back. 

But this was different; the club was classy, they were still going to be hungover in the morning, and Rey was glad that she was allowed to peel away the weight of her Jedi robes in exchange for something more… flattering. If you could call this _thing_ that. 

With one more scrutinizing look, she let out an exasperated breath and picked up her clutch, which contained (one) comlink. She stepped out of the bedroom and toward the platform. It was there that her friends waited, and as the clicking of her heels approached, the five ceased their discussion and turned to her. 

They all looked phenomenal, even Myna, who preferred to dress modestly, looked quite stunning in a shin-length navy blue dress. 

“Holy hells, Rey!” Rose called, placing her hand on Finn’s arm to steady herself exaggeratedly. “You are so gorgeous!”

She blushed, and took a few steps closer, and reached for Poe’s hand. 

He didn’t seem to notice at first, his gaze trained on her with nothing short of desire. His cheeks were flushed as he ran his tongue along the rim of his lip, still not saying anything, but everything all at once. She felt the back of her neck heat up with the intensity of it as he finally took her hand, and she snapped out of it long enough to see what he was wearing. 

She surveyed him as he jerked her into the speeder beside him, a coy smile on his face as Jannah slid in beside her. He kept a hand on her leg as his other turned to the controls, and Rey found it hard to look away.

A dark brown leather jacket covered a black tunic that revealed his collar bone, leaving much to her imagination. He wore dress-pants and a pair of dark leather boots with pointed toes. What caught her eye the easiest, however was the silver chain on his neck, hanging in front of his shirt, but something was missing, something important—

“Did you hear me Rey?”

Poe waited quietly, the wind tossing his curls as the group sped through the city, his eyes on the path ahead of him. Her mouth agape, she shook her head. 

“I said I love you,” he replied, and Jannah laughed, jabbing her gently in the ribs. 

Rey rolled her eyes, placing her hand over his, and turned over her shoulder to glance at Finn and Rose who were deep in a conversation, and Myna, who gazed distantly into the city. 

She appeared almost as though she was in a trance, eyes glazed over with something unseen, and Rey swallows a bit of dread.

Rey followed that gaze, and in the distance, she spotted it. Five spires grew out of a building she hadn’t thought to look for on this trip. A strange voice called to her, but she shook her head. No, not now. 

That Jedi Temple could wait. It endured nearly sixty five years since the rise of the empire, it could hold on a bit longer.

Still, the voice was persistent. 

_”Rey.”_

She tuned it out, years of practice seeming to come in handy. 

They pulled up outside a swanky-looking building, and Rey took a deep breath as she stepped out of the speeder. 

Anxiously, she tugged on the hem again. They stepped into the lift, and Poe’s grip covered hers to stop the nervous tell.

Booming music filled her ears as the doors hissed open, and she took his hand to steady the almost instant sensory-overload. Poe guides them to a table near a large window, a sweeping view of the city warming her as she set her clutch down. 

A hand fell on her shoulder, and she startled, reaching instinctively for the lightsaber she had left on the bed at the apartment. 

She turned quickly to see a familiar face, Karé Kun smiling at her, if not a little worried. 

Rey wraps her arms around her friend, apologizing quietly, but Karé just shakes her head as if knowing all of her troubles just by looking at her. There is no flinch at the yellow glow in her eye, and a simple kind smile suffices.

Jess, Sura, and Iolo joined them too, and the smile on Poe’s face was far more intoxicating than the alcohol she had consumed. He seemed at ease, at least more than usual. Hands in his pockets, he leaned on the table as he talked to Karé. 

She blinked when he caught her staring, raising an eyebrow at her with a playful smirk. She scrunched her nose and laughed, but Karé said something that pulled his attention away again, and she swirled her drink absentmindedly. 

A hand closed over it, and set it down on a nearby table. 

“Myna–” she growled at the young woman, who grabbed her by the wrists as the music shifted, and pulled her onto the dance floor. It wasn’t long before Jess, and Sura had followed them as well, watching as Rey stood stiffly as the club danced around them. 

“I don’t–”

“Don’t you dare say I don’t dance,” Jess laughed, and Rey was briefly reminded of a mission they shared together that was marked in her memory by a night of joyful dancing that probably got out of hand. 

She groaned, and started moving her hips to the beat of the music, and Jannah and Rose whistled while Myna just laughed. 

-

Poe smiled, barely able to hear his thoughts over the booming music. The alcohol left a certain warmth in the tips of his ears, and it burned down his throat pleasantly as he took another sip. 

“Did you hear me, Poe?”

He blinked, finally pulling his gaze away from Rey, and lifted eyes back up to Karé again. 

“You’ve got that look in your eye,” he groans, and she placed a hand on his shoulder. There was a mix of amusement and dismay in her eyes, and she was clearly judging him, but it wasn’t all there.

“Come on, Dameron,” she urged. She knew he had heard her the first time. 

“I don’t know, Karé.”

“Poe, I remember when you used to jump at every opportunity Leia gave you to hop in your ship, even if it was just to gather some intel,” he looked at his feet. “Now it’s like you’ve got your feet glued to the ground. What’s going on in that big head of yours?”

His eyes fell on Rey who had joined Finn and Iolo at the bar, and sighed. 

He wasn’t the same person he was three years ago, none of them were, but his path was tied to theirs, even before he could see it, it was. 

Poe had lost so much in his lifetime, from his mother, to the first person he loved, to his one of his best friends and even a person who could’ve once been his brother. He wasn’t sure he could bear losing them, the two people who always saw the best of him, despite all of his ill-placed decisions.

And Rey. Rey is the strongest person that he’s ever known, but she was drowning in her own mind. He could see it in the half-golden gaze, no, he could feel it in her signature. 

And he loved her with more than he knew he was capable of.

“It’s not that I don’t _want_ to be up there,” he shakes his head. “The thought of it just seems…selfish.”

There's a beat of silence between them, but Karé laughs. He groans and takes a deep swig of the glittering alcohol.

“You’ve got to stop with chivalry. They would never blame you for doing what you love, Poe,” she responded. “Especially her. If she really loves you, she’ll be okay with whatever you choose.”

“I know,” he sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just don’t know if I would be able forgive myself if I let her do this on her own, and I never saw her again.”

“I know the feeling,” she responded, her tone heavy as she lifted her glass to her lips. He nods, not quite sure what to say. 

He may not have loved Snap the way that she did, but he was still his closest friend. As General, it was his job to deliver the news to her, to Wedge and to Norra. He took the blunt of their curses, their grief and pain, and he’s sure he would break if he ever had to do that for someone he loved ever again. 

He briefly imagined his voice cracking as he broke the news that Rey wouldn’t be coming back to his father, who had loved her so dearly, so fiercely for such a short time. Poe feared it wouldn’t break just him, but everything that they had built in the past three years. So sure that the galaxy would fall apart without its brightest young star.

No, he shook his head, he wouldn’t let that happen. 

“I’m going to see this one through,” he decided, his eyes falling on Rey’s playful smile as she danced with Jess and Sura. “But I promised General Syndulla I’d come back, and now I’m promising you.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” she says, clinking her glass against his. “But there’s something a little less… morbid, isn’t there?”

“You could always see right through me, couldn’t you?”

“Wearing the chain out without it is a rookie move, Dameron. If I can read your cover, she could read you like an open book.”

He shoved his hand in his pocket, and pulled out the small velvet box, and handed it to her. She admires Shara Bey’s wedding ring, and closes it before handing it back to him with a pleasant smile.

“You better not mess this up,” she smacks his shoulder. “You damn well know you’re the luckiest among us.”

He shook his head and chuckled, tucking the chain under his shirt, and setting his drink down before going to join them on the dance floor. 

-

“Poe!” Rey cried, dancing towards him as he smiled warmly at them. She took his hand in hers, and he slowly joined in. She took note that he had shed his jacket, his black sleeves rolled up just below the elbow. 

With a misstep, she hears a faint _crack!_ before she stumbles forward, her ankle rolling to one side. Poe catches her arms and helps her balance as she checks the broken heel of her shoe, and laughs at the sight of it. 

“Come on,” he says, helping her back to the table as the music calms for a moment. “You could probably use a break though, huh, sunshine?”

She sits, and he kneels to take off her shoes. He looks up at her with a sly smile, and her cheeks flush before he tosses the shoes into her lap with a chuckle. 

“I thought you were a gentleman.”

“Only when everyone else is looking.”

She shakes her head as she leans forward to kiss him, hand coming to rest on his shoulder. She can taste the Corellian whiskey on his lips, and pulls away to look him in the eye. 

“Dameron is that you?” They hear a voice call, and a familiar face approaches them with a half-smile, blue-green eyes sparkling in the dim light. Bright green locks are tied back in a ponytail, and Rey smiles at the thought that he looks like his father, but she’ll leave that recognition to Poe.

“Jacen!” He laughs, and jumps from his seat to embrace his old friend. Rey stands to join them, her feet bare on the cold tile, and Jacen Syndulla turns to look at her with reverence. 

“You’re—”

“Rey Skywalker,” she offers him a hand, her lips pressed together in a firm line, curling up at the edges. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Jacen Syndulla, even if it’s not in the ideal setting.”

Jacen looks at Rey, gaping, and then back to Poe who shakes his head as Rey wraps his hand in hers. 

“I’m really standing in the presence of the last Jedi, aren’t I?”

“Not the last,” she corrects, gesturing to Myna who dances awkwardly with Rose. “But, yes.”

Poe claps Jacen on the shoulder, and Rey kisses Poe’s cheek before whispering in his ear.

“I’ll let you catch up, I think I need a breath of fresh air.”

He smiles at her like she’s his whole world, and she scrunches her nose teasingly, hand trailing out of his grip as she edges towards the door to the balcony.

The door opens with a rush of fresh air and she steps out into it, a breath of relief she didn’t know she was holding slipping from her lips. 

She leaned over the railing, and looked out into the city as it sparkled in the night. 

Her eyes fell on the temple again, a dark silhouette against a sky poisoned by the light of the city. 

_”Rey.”_

Their departure could wait. She would go to the temple in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are parts of this chapter that hint at what may happen at the temple. I originally didn’t want to include it, but it feels necessary, and a step deeper into Rey’s conflict.
> 
> Much of this story is inspired by the Duel of Fates Script, as well as the Mortis episodes from The Clone Wars. It was mainly born out of my love for Jedi: Fallen Order, and grew into a way for me to connect the stories. 
> 
> I spun in circles for a little while with this one, but hopefully I’ll have another chapter up soon.


	10. Possession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Myna visit the Jedi temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer than what I usually do, a little bit rough, but I hope all goes well. At least it seems longer :)
> 
> Fair warning, there is some blood and a bit of gore ahead, but I it’s not graphic. Rey also gets fairly self deprecating and drifts close to the dark.

She doesn’t remember how she got home that night, but she lies peacefully in bed beside Poe when she wakes the next morning. 

Light streams in, but no pounding headache comes. She reaches for her glass of water from the nightstand, taking a nice slow sip, and sighing. Rey pulls one of Poe’s shirts over her head and slides out from beneath the covers, careful not to disturb her companion. 

_“Rey,”_ the voice calls, and she nods slowly, as she steps into the kitchen, refilling her cup at the sink and breathing in the fresh air that flows in through the open windows. 

“You said you were going to go, didn’t you?”

She set the glass down on the counter hard, and glanced over her shoulder to see Ben Solo looking her over. She pulled on the hem of the shirt, and turned to face him. 

“I did,” she replied, a picture of composure on the outside, waves of anxiety rolling over her beneath the mask. 

“I should warn you–”

“It’s always something,” she muttered. 

“You might not like what you find.”

“It seems there’s a common theme, here, isn’t there, Solo,” she snorts. “First I’m an heiress to the throne of the dark side, then I’m a host for the most powerful beings in the galaxy, now what?”

He rolls his eyes, and looks at her sheepishly, but she doesn’t fall for the behavior.

“It’s no fun if you tell me, is it?”

“You know how the force works.”

She wants to throw something at him, she really does. Dyad be damned. 

Then she sees the other figure, hanging in the shadows, silhouetted in scarlet.

She furrows her brow, peering up at Ben Solo, his face soft and young, sarcastic in a way she had never known in life. His eyes look sad as he glances back at the hollow shell of Kylo Ren, and Rey shutters at the weight of it. 

Even in death, Ben Solo could not escape all that he’d done, and it wasn’t born from her hands. It was a demon of his own making, and yet, that dark shadow followed her too.

She lowered her gaze from his, remembering the corruption torturing her, and turned away. 

“You’re not alone,” he sighs. It’s an eerie echo of something said long ago. “You know that.”

No, she would never be alone, not even in her own head. 

But she did have a choice to who she would let take control. 

“Neither are you,” she responds, quiet, the memory of his manipulation feeling like a ghost on her lips, the reassuring remnants of all that was good in Kylo Ren warming her skin. 

The presence fades, and she takes a shaky breath before glancing back over her shoulder. 

Outlined in red, the shape of Kylo Ren paces like a caged predator, it’s gaze fixed on her with something like hunger. It casts a shadow on the floor, like light being choked by smoke. 

She shutters, and draws her blade to her hand, hairs on the back of her neck standing on edge. 

“What’s wrong?” Myna calls, stepping into the room. 

She freezes, and Rey holds her breath when Ren does too, and she wills him to go away. 

“Rey? What was that?”

She shakes her head, her knees buckling with the effort. 

“A monster.”

“Master?”

“Get dressed, we’re going to the temple.”

-

It’s the first time she’s worn her Jedi robes since her encounter on Bogano, and she peers over her shoulder at Poe’s sleeping form. 

Rey straightens her collar and plays with her sleeves, bending over to straighten her boots. Taking a deep breath, she brushes her hair back, and runs her finger over the scar on her forehead

A distant memory of an encounter on Shili peaks forward, and she shakes it away, her throat burning slightly. 

She calls her saber to her hand, and hooks it on her belt. She folds the note and places it on Poe’s nightstand, her hand brushing his forearm. 

She pauses and looks back, and regrets it immediately. Guilt twists in her throat as she turns away, quickly replaced by resolve as she strides towards the speeder where Myna waits, wearing her own robes. 

“Do you hear it too?” She asks, sounding small, and Rey takes note of the glistening fear in her eyes. 

“It’s calling to you? The temple?”

“Yes,” she whispers, furrowing her brow. “It’s been saying my name… just _my_ name.”

“Me too,” Rey places her hand on Myna’s shoulder. She smiles, despite herself. “You wanna drive?”

The fear flickers away, and the corners of her lips tug up hesitantly. Rey feels victorious, and gestures to where the speeder waits. 

The ride to the temple is a short one, and surprisingly, the courtyard below the main entrance is busy. A marketplace alive in the wake of the destructive past that looms above them. 

As Rey and Myna pass through the crowd, people stop what they are doing, and stare. She swallows her nerves and keeps pushing forward. It’s been months since she’s been in such a public eye in a place she could so easily be recognized. 

“Mama, is that a Jedi?” A little girl calls, and Rey listens carefully for a response. 

“I don’t think so, baby, the Jedi are gone.”

Myna stops for a split second, but Rey shakes her head and gestures to the staircase, the end of the marketplace. 

They turn before ascending, and see that a crowd has gathered behind them. Her breath catches in her throat at the sight of so many people. She never had a way with words, she wouldn’t be able to say anything to them, not now. 

_“Rey.”_

They continue on, and when the entrance is finally in sight, she hesitates. 

The memories are overwhelming. 

A Padawan leaving her master behind. The footsteps of soldiers advancing on their allies behind a familiar blade. Children fighting for their lives. Her grandfather and his burning anger. 

But in the same sense, there is joy. In a time where the Jedi were a source of peace, when there was little threat to the High Republic, there were people that lived happy lives here. 

The halls were vast and long, the ceilings high. 

But it was eerily silent; not even the wind howling between the buildings could penetrate these walls. 

Myna trailed behind, staring at her feet, and the uneasiness grew. 

Rey paused at a courtyard entrance, and gestures for Myna to continue on. 

“Stay on the comms,” she sighed. “We’ll cover more ground if we split up.”

The call was quiet, now, distant, but slowly padding into the courtyard, she could feel the pull of its source, dragging her towards it like gravity. 

Dark and withered in the center of the courtyard was a Uneti tree like the one on Yavin IV. But this one was dead, corrupted and destroyed, the stretching patterns of lightning scorches covering the pavement telling her everything she needed to know.

Shakily, haunted by the ghastly face of the man responsible, she reaches out towards it. Placing her hand on the gnarled bark, she closes her eyes and reaches for signs of light, of hope. 

“Rey,” comes a soft, familiar voice. The Daughter stands before her, a picture of calm and elegance. Her green waves rustle in the wind, and her skin is slightly pink. Gone is the woman’s ethereal glow. She looks human… almost.

This is wrong, her head says. Something is wrong.

No, the force echoes. This is the right path. 

“What do you want?” Rey asks, simmering slightly. 

“I want to help you,” she whispers. “I called you here for a reason.”

“My problem is that you are here,” she gestures to the physical form before her. “You’ve been dead for decades.”

“Deep in the temple there is a vault,” the Daughter goes on, ignoring Rey’s retorts. “Inside there are holocrons, most damaged and destroyed by the Empire. You will find one intact, containing reports from Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano from early in the Clone Wars.”

There’s a distant crash, and Rey startled, whipping over her shoulder. 

“What’s in the report?” Rey asks the Daughter, a scream ripping through the air. “Please.”

“You must discover that for yourself, Child,” she glances over Rey’s shoulder. She sounds desperate, and Rey reaches out for her, but her hand passes straight through her form. 

The Daughter vanished into a fine, white mist and Rey turned and ran towards the source of the scream. 

“Myna?” Rey called through the temple, and her voice bounced against the walls. “Myna!”

“Rey,” another voice answers, and she whips around, the golden saber humming to life in her hand, heart thrumming in her chest. He clicks his tongue at her and she shifts on her feet. 

He looks just as alive as his sister had. His eyes glow the same yellow reflected in hers. Bile rises in her throat, but she does her best to swallow her nerves. 

“Step aside,” she growls, low and feral.

Like his sister, he ignored her, and a laugh peels from his lips that fills the hallway to its brim.

“You’re looking for the holocron,” he laughs, pinching the bridge of his pointed nose. “My sister is so naive, always has been.”

“I said,” she clenches her fist, her leather gloves crinkling. _“Step aside.”_

“And what are you going to do? Fight me? You can’t even touch me, I _am_ you.”

“That’s not what happened the last time we met like this.”

“This place has a certain power, doesn’t it?” He glances around, gazing at the stained glass window high above them. She feels it, too, and he knows it. “But you’ll be too busy with her to be dealing with me.”

“What?” Her heart drops to her stomach as he laughs again.

He vanishes in a cloud of smoke, to reveal Myna stumbling around the corner. Blood stains her forehead. She lifts her eyes to Rey’s, and she gasps. Her eyes are glazed over a milky white, her shoulders wound tight, spots of red on the collar of her robes. 

She draws her lightsaber and Rey’s breath catches in her throat. Shaking, she steps back as Myna advances. 

The anger roars within her, but she can’t let take control. Not now, not when it matters.

Taking a deep, steadying breath she falls into a defensive stance. 

Myna finally seems to see her fully, smirking as she straightens, her footsteps falling into careful and trained paces.

“Hello, Master,” she laughs, so uncharacteristic of the sweet young woman. Rey shutters, and the movement is mirrored in her apprentice. 

“Myna,” Rey gasps, holding a hand out in front of her, her blade still drawn behind her. “He’s in your head.”

“No, Master Skywalker,” she chuckles, and Rey’s cheeks are wet with tears. “He’s in yours.”

She screeches and dashes forward, swinging her violet blade over her head, and Rey parries, gritting her teeth. The blades hiss against each other, and she shouts as it draws closer to her face. 

But Rey has years on Myna. She taught her everything that she knows. The skill in her swing, in her forms, is Rey’s, and she knows how to defend against it.

She twists her arm, and slides the blades, kicking her apprentice back, landing hard on her butt. Rey turns and runs, clicking her comlink on, breathing hard.

“Finn. _Finn!_ ” she glances over her shoulder, watching Myna get up. She was angry now. “Finn, pick up!”

“Rey, what’s wrong?” Comes a crackling voice through the speaker. 

“I need you at the Jedi Temple. No time to explain. Please come quickly, I—” 

The comlink soars out of her hand and into Myna’s grip, who, with some newfound strength, crushes it, letting the wrecked device fall to the ground.

Rey stops running, turning to face her apprentice with resolve. 

Here, her worst fears were coming to life. Rey has failed Myna, failed to protect her from herself, and from her dark bloodline and tortured past. The guilt choked her. 

It felt like she had lost everything, but she was still hypnotized by the demented, posseessed gazed of her apprentice. It was far different than fighting her grandfather, from facing her equal in the force. She was facing a woman who had in such a short time become her sister, consumed by a darkness that Rey had brought on. 

Shaking her head, she raised her blade, and Myna took charge, but Rey blocked blow after blow after blow. 

One came in, and the force pulsed from her fingers, catching Myna off guard and pushing her back. 

“Fight it, Myna,” Rey urges. Myna grimaces and spins the hilt in her hand. “I could help you.”

“I don’t want your help,” she bites back, swinging with her entire body, her more petite frame throwing more weight. 

Rey stumbles backwards, and catches a glimpse of the Son, smirking, waving as he turns down the hall.

In an instant, she knows why he’s sent Myna. He’s looking for it, too. Rey panics for a moment, and Myna catches her off guard, slamming her to the ground. 

Her lightsaber skitters across the floor, far out of reach, but she has bigger problems. 

Her apprentice straddles her waist, pinning her down at the shoulders.

“So this is how the Empress falls,” she laughs, and Rey blinks back tears, knowing that this was not the woman she knew. “Vulnerable, like any other mortal.”

She bears her teeth as she raises the blade, and comes down hard. Rey manages to free a hand, and grabs her wrist with inhuman instinct, the blade inches from her face. 

Groaning with the effort and tears streaming from her eyes, she braces against the heat.

She’s come too far to fall now.

But suddenly, Myna shouts and in a burst of strength, manages to break free, swiping at her shoulder, a shallow wound spreading across her chest. 

Rey screams as the pain blurs her vision, her mind aching with the effort to stay focused. 

Smirking, Myna rears up, but falls back suddenly as a blaster-bolt collides with her shoulder. 

Pushing herself to her feet, Rey’s gaze falls on Finn, who holds a small pistol, her lightsaber in his other hand. Determination glistens in his eyes.

“I have to—”

“Go!” He shouts, and offers her the blade, but she shutters with the effort, her hand coming to her wound. “I’ll handle this, then.”

Nodding, Rey takes off down the hall, stumbling and bracing herself against the wall for a moment. She pulls her hand away, slick with blood and gasps, willing herself to push forward. 

She wouldn’t let the Son win.

She stumbles into the lift, and closes her eyes, letting the light flow through her before pushing a button. 

Willing herself to heal, she breathes heavily, but it doesn’t work. She can’t use that power for herself. It simply sizzles out at her fingertips, and she’s left more tired than she was before.

The door hisses open, and she limps into the library. Hearing the creaking of machinery, she strides forward, as silently as she can. 

The Son stands before a closed vault, picking away at the keypad, and places a palm on it, and a darkness fills the room. The vault swings open, and the Son is framed by glowing blue holocrons, much of them shattered.

He reaches for one, and holds it in his hand, appearing as solid as he would've been in life. 

Then, he turns to look at her, and anger burns through her thoughts, and she grits her teeth as he stares at her, a grin spreading across his features. 

He crushes it in his hand, and she screams, racing forward, but he lets out a burst of power, and shatters them all.

“Too late,” he whispers as she runs straight through him, falling onto her hands and knees in shattered glass. “We’ll meet again, I can promise you that.”

Dazed, she can sense his presence disappear, and pushes herself up. 

Remembering the situation upstairs, she tears her tunic and ties it tight across her chest. Shaking away the haze in her mind, she steps into the lift again. 

She’s failed. She’s failed Myna and she’s failed herself. 

Everything that she’s worked to protect, it’s at risk now. She didn’t know how they Son and Daughter were able to manifest in the way that they did, but if she wasn’t a danger to those she cared about before, she was now. Myna was concrete proof of that. 

She wiped away tears with blood stained hands, streaking her paling cheeks scarlet as the doors slid open. 

Finn shouted with the effort, lightsabers clashing. When they came into view, it was clear they were both tiring. Finn was merely defending himself with what limited training he had, but Myna was still trying to keep him from getting past. 

Her face darkening, she reached a hand out, and clenched a fist, freezing Myna in place. Finn looked up suddenly, and his face contorted in fear at the sight of her. 

She could only imagine what he was seeing, she could feel it coursing through her. 

_“That’s it, Rey,”_ the Son’s voice echoes in her head. _“Give in to the pain.”_

Shaking her head, she pushes him away, and swipes a finger, knocking the younger woman unconscious, and watches her slump to the ground. 

Finn relaxes and shuts of the sunshine saber, tossing it to her. She barely manages to catch it, hooking it on her belt as she leans against the pillar. 

“If you wait much longer, he’ll kill her,” Rey startled, whipping around, the Daughter strides towards them.

“Can you see her, Finn?” Rey holds out a hand. “Is she in my head?”

“Clear as day, Peanut,” he gasps at the woman before them, who kneels beside Myna’s head. 

“How can we save her?” Finn asks, reaching for Myna’s wrist. 

The Daughter turned to face Rey, and gazed at her with stunning blue eyes. 

“You have my power inside of you, child,” she holds out a hand for Rey, which she takes, surprised by the solidness and warmth that spreads through her. “Use it.”

Rey blinks, feeling it flow through her veins as she kneels beside her padawan. As if acting on instinct, she closes her eyes, and places a single finger on Myna’s forehead. Delving into her mind, she pulls away the darkness and fills it with light. 

The darkness is sticky, and it’s on her hands.

The glaze in Myna’s unseeing eyes disappears, and her form relaxed, eyelids slipping shut. 

Gasping in relief, Rey slumps back, and the daughter places a hand over her wound with a soft smile. The burning fades as the wound knits itself back together, and a warm hand comes to her cheek. 

There is hope in the woman’s eyes, and somehow, Rey knows that not all is lost, even if she only feels the sting of defeat. 

Warmth dissolved into a cool mist, and Rey met Finn’s gaze, which had hardened into something unreadable. 

“Thank you for coming,” she sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. “You saved my ass back there.”

He considered her for a moment, and looked away. 

“I’m glad you’re alright,” he whispered. “But you scared the hell out of me. You looked possessed when you finally stopped her.”

“I-I’m sorry,” she choked, fighting tears as she looked down on Myna’s peaceful face. “I don’t know what happened. I shouldn’t have come here. She never would’ve gotten hurt if I’d just stayed in bed this morning.”

“It’s over now, Rey, you can’t change that,” he places a hand on her shoulder, and she flinches. He looks frightened by a flash of something in her gaze, and that stings even worse than the defeat. Finn could always see the best in her, but maybe that was because he never got to see the worst. “Come one. Let’s get you out of here.”

Myna coughs, her eyes slipping open. 

“Master?” She asks weakly, and Rey smiles, placing a hand on her cheek. 

“You’re gonna be okay, kid,” she sighs. “I’ll tell you all about it later, but I need you to try to get up right now.”

She nods, and they help pull her to her feet, and she leans on Finn as Rey retrieves the lightsaber that had come so close to killing her. 

Shaking her head, they depart, but at the bottom of the stairs remains a menacing crowd, and they don’t look as nice and tidy as they had before. 

Instead, Finn calls his speeder, and they climb in, and the wind whips against her face as she reaches for Myna’s hand. 

There was still hope, and Myna’s smile was proof of that. Rey wasn’t going to lose sight of that, not now. Not when it mattered the most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably the darkest thing I’ve written in a while, for anything haha. 
> 
> It’s intended that information about Mortis is contained on the holocron, but that was destroyed. Lothal may be Rey’s last chance to find a path forward.
> 
> Ahead:  
> Poe confronts Rey about the Temple quarrel, and the departure to Lothal. Flashback to the mysterious encounter on Shili, though that might be elusive for a while. Jacen will make another appearance soon, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Poe mourns the loss of Rey’s hair. It was an interesting decision but I was playing around with som designs for her in my sketchbook and I thought of Daisy’s look from the London premiere. Ohp. It happened.


End file.
